The Enemy of My Enemy
by GronkSpikes
Summary: She tried to take everything from me, and I left her for dead because of it. Seven years later, here we are, under threat of losing everything again. Now, we have a common enemy, and the stakes are higher. Life's forcing my hand here, and I have to put aside my desire for revenge to keep my family, my people, safe. Rated T for Language and Violence. Continuation of Blood Brothers.
1. Snake Eyes

**Before You Start Reading: You're gonna want to read _Too Far Gone_ and _Blood Brothers_ before this, as there will be plot points relevant to both these stories that help further the story in here. Plus, you get more insight on the background of some of the OCs featured here, such as the two main characters, Ian Sullivan and Brett Sanderson. **

**For reference, this story takes place three weeks after the final chapter of _Blood Brothers_, and for a timeframe in this, it starts in December of 2017, about 7.5 years into the outbreak, although I'll be skipping ahead at certain points in the story for the sake of plot and whatnot. I know technically the Outbreak supposedly starts in 2003 in the games, sticking with the comic tmeline, well I'm sticking with the TV Show's timeline for that because convenience and I didn't actually realize that until I was a few chapters into _Too Far Gone_, so 2010 is when the outbreak starts in this universe. Deal with it.**

**Like in _Blood Brothers_, special thanks to undyingrage98489 for his OCs in this story, Benjamin "Benji" Sanderson, Annalyse Mayweather, and Jason Keaney, among others he may give me in the future. I have other user submitted OCs that I'll be incorporating in the future, and those users will get their thanks upon introduction, but I wanted to give a special thanks to Undying for being the homie and being a great supporter of my stories. He's been a great help with writing these stories. Without his support, among others, I probably wouldn't be writing this.**

**If you have any OCs you'd like included in the story, please leave them in a review or PM them to me and I'll try to incorporate as many as I can, although I can't promise how many will get used, how many will survive, and whatnot. I'm doing something a lot more different and a lot more involved wth writing this, so there's going to be some tough decisions to be made about who lives and who dies. Since my last two stories followed TellTale's story for the most part, it was easy to stick to that and then make adjustments as I saw fit for how I wanted to tell the story. Being that I am mapping out this entire story from scratch, you can probably imagine that I'm going to have to axe characters at some point. It's just a sad reality because of how life is in The Walking Dead. Just know that if you submit an OC, there is a chance that they get axed as I see fit. It's nothing personal, but in a universe with ~~**zombies~~** walkers and people that are actively trying to kill you, it's just an unfortunate reality that it will happen. I only say this because I got a lot of shit for killing off a particular character or two in _Too Far Gone_ that was not particularly well-received by a couple users. And no, I'm not doing a happily ever after where everyone is alive and happy. It's not realistic, and to be honest, there's no fun in that. With people dying, the plot can expand further, and we can get into some pretty deep waters with the things I've got planned. **

**Finally, and this is the biggest thing, I'm probably going to have an awful schedule when it comes to writing this. I'm working two jobs and taking a few classes this summer, as well as spending time with friends while I'm home, working out, and playing with my puppy. I'm gonna be busy. I'll try my best to be consistent, but it's unlikely I'll be able to do a chapter a week consistently. I'm thinking Friday uploads, but to be honest, it might just be whenever I feel like uploading. It's for my convenience, so I don't have to rush to get a chapter out, and I can have better quality chapters by keeping them up to my standards. Like I've said in the past, I'd rather take 10 days to write a good chapter, than take 4 days to write a shitty one. It's just me being realistic. Quality over Quantity. I know I said this at the beginning of _Blood Brothers_, and I wound up going 13 Chapters in 13 Weeks, but it's not gonna happen. Apologies in advance for that.**

**With that being said, I hope you enjoy.**

**Constructive Reviews greatly appreciated. I take any and all advice and suggestions to try and make my stories better, so I'd appreciate your input.**

**Chapter 1 - Snake Eyes**

Every morning starts the same for me. Beams of sunlight pour into my bedroom as the sun rises above the horizon, and a big smile forms on my face as I slowly stir awake. In my arms, my very gorgeous wife, Kate Garcia-Sullivan, who I recently learned is due to have our daughter in roughly two months. I plant a kiss on my wife's forehead, rolling out of bed to get ready for the day while she gets some more sleep.

A pair of dark blue jeans and a dark green flannel should do the trick for today. I put the flannel and jeans on over my white undershirt and boxers I wore to bed the night before and quietly step out of the room.

From the next room over, some light giggling comes through the door, and I crack open the door and peek in to see my son playing with a stuffed lion in his bed. I chuckle as I walk in and sit down next to him, and he beams as he notices me.

"Daddy!" He yells as he jumps into my arms for a hug.

"Good morning, Chandler." I smile as I run my hand through my son's messy brown curls. "You want some breakfast?"

He nods as I pick him up to go downstairs to the kitchen, but he points towards my and Kate's bedroom. "Mommy?"

"Mommy's sleeping, buddy. We should let her sleep. Now, do you want an apple or some blueberries?" I ask him, and his eyes light up.

"BLUEBEWWIES!" He screams as loud as he can, and I immediately cover his mouth, softly shushing him, causing him to giggle once again.

"Chandler, you need to let Mommy sleep, okay?" I shush him once again, nodding as I set him down in his chair. I pull out my knife, grabbing a small handful of blueberries from the bowl Kate keeps and I cut a few of them up, dumping them into a bowl and placing them in front of my boy, who immediately starts digging in.

From upstairs, I hear the all too familiar sounds of my wife retching in the bathroom upstairs. I turn back to Chandler, who continues to chow down on his berries without a care in the world. I walk back upstairs and toward the bathroom, pausing as I hear Kate vomit once again. I step into the bathroom to the sight of my wife, still in her bra and panties, dealing with some morning sickness which, according to Dr. Lingard, is pretty normal in this stage of her pregnancy. I crouch down next to her, rubbing her back as she hangs her head into the toilet.

"I need this baby out of me as soon as possible." She groans, retching again, but nothing coming out.

"Another eight weeks or so, and we'll welcoming a baby girl into the world. She'll appreciate what you're going through now, I guarantee it." I assure her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"She better." My wife mumbles as she spits into the toilet, wobbling to her feet. "I think that's it. Can you make some breakfast?" She asks sweetly, giving me some begging eyes that I have no choice but to say yes to. With a nod, I give her a kiss on the cheek.

"Go put on something comfortable and take a personal day. I'll get someone to cover for you at the nursery."

"Can you just do that?"

"Of course I can. I'm the Governor. I'll ask someone to and worst case scenario, I'll ask Clem to take care of it."

She grins. "You're the best. You know that?"

"All for you." I tell her with a peck on the cheek. "Now get comfortable. I'll throw something together and have it up to you."

As she disappears into our room, I go back downstairs to see my son sitting in his chair still, dropping a final blueberry into his mouth, although I'd say about a third of what I gave him now coats his face, specifically his mouth. Nonetheless, I can't help but smile as I grab a towel, wiping the mess off on his face before getting to work on Kate's breakfast. Some berries, a banana, and some grapes get cut up and tossed into a bowl. I take a loaf of bread, cutting off a couple of slightly stale pieces, and slathering it in jam that a friend from a nearby community gave last time I visited. Kate loves it and I love her, so naturally it makes sense.

I take the bowl of fruit and the plate with bread, balancing that on one arm as I pour her a glass of water and bring that up with my free hand. As I reach our room, Kate smiles widely, now wearing a pair of sweatpants and a baggy tee shirt. I place the meal around her, and she gives me a hug as she starts to dig in.

"Remind me to pay you back for all this tonight." She tells me with a flirty wink, and she and I both laugh after.

"You don't have to tell me twice." I grin back to my wife, giving her a kiss and swiping a couple berries before looking at my watch. With a groan, I get up.

"On the clock soon?"

I nod back to my wife. "Going on a supply run today. Just a quick one, but I've gotta go soon."

"Who're you going out with?"

"Brett. Clem says he has serious leadership potential, so I want to get to know him a bit better."

She gives me a soft smile. "He seems like a good kid. I saw him and his brother the other day. Very respectful, but kinda quiet."

"Those kids have been to Hell and back. I don't envy them for a minute." I frown to Kate, thinking about what Clementine told me about their past. They've gone through a lot at a pretty young age. I feel bad, but they've made the most out of it.

"Well don't get yourself killed out there, alright? Our kids are gonna need their daddy, okay Daddy?" She shoots me that flirty smile again and I feel myself actively resisting the urge to skip this whole run. Dear Lord, give me the strength.

But no, I promised Clem I'd take Brett on a supply run and get to know him. And besides, we need more firewood, with Winter coming up faster than we think. With one last kiss, I walk out of the bedroom and grab some clothes for Chandler. Putting him in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, he and I walk out of the house, into the brisk morning air.

So, from what you may have already seen, it seems like I have a pretty great life. And I do, I won't lie about that. I'm married to an absolutely gorgeous woman, I have a son who's the absolute best, and I'm going to have a daughter soon, too. I'm the leader of a strong and growing community, and I'm pretty much in charge of rebuilding this little piece of civilization.

But, things weren't supposed to be this way. My life was supposed to be different, in a lot of ways. And while I thank my lucky stars every night for Kate and my family, this wasn't supposed to be how life was. I had everything, and I was ready to take on the world, doing what I loved with the woman I loved.

Let me paint you a picture of a twenty-one year old Ian Sullivan, a young man who had the world ahead of him. A college football standout at the University of Georgia, so much so that he was drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft by his childhood Atlanta Falcons. That night, already the best of his life, he asked his longtime girlfriend, Carley Madsen, to marry him. He wanted her to join him on this new adventure into the NFL, and she graciously said yes. He had everything, and it would take Hell itself to come drag him down.

Three months later, Hell literally rose and dragged him down.

I still don't know what caused the outbreak, or what it would take to end it, but some three months after my dream came true, it all came crashing down with the start of the apocalypse. One minute, I was ready to relax at Myrtle Beach with my fiancée, the next, I'm fighting tooth and nail against the undead. Within months, the vast majority of the world was a walking corpse. Carley and I had been fortunate, albeit with more than a couple close calls where one of us or both of us cheated death. I couldn't tell you how many times I could've been the landing spot for a bullet, or a walker's next meal, or whatever else almost killed me in the last seven years. Carley, however, wasn't as fortunate as I was, and I regret it every day. After we'd been married for a year or so, two years into this mess, I lost the last person I was fighting for, to a single gunshot to the chest. Carley was shot once before, by a vicious woman that was part of our first group, but she lived, thanks in part to some quick thinking by yours truly, but this time, it wasn't enough. I lost the one person I had left, she bled out in my arms that afternoon, and it haunts my dreams every night.

Years passed, and I found myself on the road one afternoon, looting what I thought to be an abandoned van. That was when I had a saving grace in my life, getting held at gunpoint by the very same woman I married months later. Back then, I was just a thief, but she and her brother-in-law, Javier, along with her stepchildren, Gabriel and Mariana, offered me a ride along with them, and it turned out to be the best thing to happen to me in this God forsaken world.

We traveled for weeks, scavenging the area for any resources, before we were ambushed, losing Mariana in a gunfight. We wound up attacking the regime that killed Mariana, and raided countless peaceful communities in the area. And for one reason or another, I found myself in control of this community, Richmond, after helping overthrow the previous regime that was then known as The New Frontier. I inherited the city, and the mess that The New Frontier had created.

That was three years ago, and I like to think that I've done pretty well, given the cards I was dealt. Of the original four leaders in The New Frontier, three of them died in the coup or as a result of the coup. The only one left was, thankfully, the one I could tolerate the most, Dr. Paul Lingard, formerly the Head of the Hospitals. I offered him the position when I took over, but he turned it down, choosing instead to deal with addiction and other mental health demons that he chose to exorcise, which I couldn't blame him for. So, I offered the position to Eleanor Tang, a doctor that helped save Kate's life after the ambush, and someone that, despite some… bumps in the road, has proven her worth time and time again, more times than I could count in a lifetime. I named Javier my Head of Security after, taking the position formerly held by his brother, a military man that just so happened to be Kate's husband during the coup. You can only imagine the look on his face when he found out about Kate and I having feelings for each other. Yeah, I probably almost died that afternoon. He died by being a reckless asshole, but anyone could tell you that was inevitable after spending a few days with David Garcia in a survival situation like this. Together, Eleanor, Javier, and I are tasked with keeping this community intact, with myself leading the charge as Governor of Richmond.

I pick up Chandler and walk down a few houses on the block to a small house on the corner, and I knock on the door a couple times. Answering the door, a tall, lanky man, a few years younger than myself

"Ian?" He says to me with his thick British accent, yawning. "Is something the matter?"

I shake my head. "Not particularly, Jason. Is Annalyse around? I need a favor."

A blonde woman, slightly shorter than Kate, pops her head out from behind her boyfriend. "Right here. What do you need?"

"Can you cover for Kate at the nursery? She's not feeling well today, and I know you're supposed to go out hunting, but it looks like there's more than enough there."

She looks back at me, uneasily, reluctant to turn down a chance to hunt, which I understand, but I've known Annalyse for a year or so now, and I know just the way to convince her.

"You know, Jesus is supposed to be coming by tomorrow. I can put in a good word and try to get you a bottle of wine or two." I remind her, referring to my friend, Paul Monroe, who bears a stunning resemblance to Jesus Christ, who also makes some incredible wine back at his community. He comes by every now and then, and he always comes with wine he's willing to trade with the good people of Richmond.

Annalyse rolls her bright baby blues and nods. "Sure. I'll do it for her. But Jesus better have some wine for me. You understand how big of a sacrifice not going hunting is for me." She smiles to me, and then to Chandler. "Want me to take him off your hands?"

"Could you?" I ask her, and I'm met with a nod, before I turn to Chandler. "Hey buddy, wanna play with Annalyse and Jason today?"

Chandler, never turning down a chance to play, cheers loudly, getting the other three of us to laugh. I hand Chandler to Annalyse.

"I'll be sure to tell Jesus to have a couple bottles ready. You have my word. Thanks for this."

We go our separate ways from there, and I walk off toward the armory in town, what used to be an old high school. Classrooms that once educated children now store our main means of defenses. Guns, explosives, ammunition, the whole nine yards. Sitting on the steps in front, an older teen, brown hair, a dirty Milwaukee Brewers cap covering most of it, an old black Nike jacket on with a faded, torn pair of jeans.

"Sorry I'm late." I apologize to Brett as he stands up to shake my hand. "Family matters to deal with, you know?"

"I get it. You're actually not that late." He reminds me. "Anyways, I'm ready to go on this supply run."

I smile back to him. Nodding toward the building as he and I both walk in, and I lead the way through the halls to the armory. I open the door, leading to one of the massive rooms full of rifles and shotguns on tables and shelves. I grab an AR-15 from one of the shelves, quickly looking through its sights, adjusting the stock to my likeness, and checking a couple other things before I determine it to be perfect for this, although hopefully I won't have to use it. I grab another one for Brett, who looks around at the options, eyeing the AK-47s and 700s a great deal, but he happily accepts the AR-15 regardless. He and I both load a few magazines with .223 rounds, and we both walk out, heading to a room across the hall, to where we keep sidearms. I grab a .44 Magnum revolver off the main table, my personal favorite. I spin the chamber around once, delighted to see it fully loaded. I spin the chamber shut and grab some more ammo for it, as Brett chooses a Beretta M9, expertly looking it over before putting it in his pocket. He and I walk out of the armory, but not before I grab an axe by the door. We'll need that.

Back out in the slightly warming morning air, I lead him toward the garage, where we take an old Ford pickup truck out for the supply run. I slowly drive the truck through the city, with more and more people walking to their respective jobs, and we finally reach the gates, and with a signal to Max, he raises the gate open, and Brett and I drive off.

"So, how's your brother adjusting to the prosthetic?" I ask him, thinking about how Conrad made him a prosthetic for his leg, which he lost part of to a walker bite. He gives me a shrug and an uneasy smile.

"He's coming around to it. He's complained a lot about it hurting, but he's getting used to it. In all honesty, I think he's just glad he doesn't have to rely on the crutches anymore, you know?"

"I hear that." I smile to him as I reminisce about my college days. "Sophomore year of college, I tore my ACL, the main ligament in your knee that keeps the bones in your knee together, so I was in crutches for a few months while that healed. It absolutely sucked. Granted, it wasn't nearly as bad as losing your foot to a walker bite, but yeah."

He frowns, thinking about how his brother almost died, so I offer some extra words of encouragement. "Clem told me about what happened, how your brother threw himself on the line for her, and almost died because of it. It takes a special kinda person to do that sorta thing, and how you were willing to do what needed to be done to keep him alive, even though he told you to kill him. That takes guts."

His frown turns into a light smile. "He's all I had left. The rest of my family, dead, my friends, dead, my girlfriend…" He pauses, and with a heavy sigh, he finishes what he was saying. "Dead."

"Damn. What happened?" I ask the teen, who blankly stares ahead, reliving a painful memory.

"She got her head bashed in by one of the only people I thought I could trust. The leader of our old group, this guy Marlon. He seemed like a good guy, he welcomed us in with open arms, was real friendly to all of us. Turns out he was a total scumbag. He was ambushed by your friend Lilly, and instead of doing the brave thing, he gave up two of his own people so they could be child soldiers just to save his own ass."

I eye him curiously as I continue driving. "Child soldiers? What? Clem never mentioned child soldiers. The fuck does Lilly need those for?"

He shrugs. "Something about a war her people are fighting. One of her men we captured said it was a bloodbath from Richmond to the coast, but I don't see it."

A shiver goes down my spine at the thought of this. We're currently heading East, right toward the coast. Could there be a war going on that I didn't even know about? How?

And even then, why child soldiers? Is Lilly that desperate? If that's the case, no wonder she got her ass handed to her by this group of kids.

"So, why did Marlon bash her head in, if you don't mind me asking?"

He shakes his head, solemnly staring out the front window. "Brody was there when he gave them away. She saw everything, and Marlon forced her to keep quiet about it all. They came up with a story that the kids were killed by walkers instead of given away to be soldiers, and the other believed it. That was four days before Benji and I joined. Brody and I became a couple not too long after, and we were together for about a year. A month and a half ago, her conscience got the best of her, and she tried to tell the truth to us, so Marlon… got his hands dirty to stay clean…"

My heart drops at his story, my mind flashing images of Carley's death. The white snow, stained with her blood. That single wound, right above her abdomen. That last moment, where she told me she loved me, and the life slowly faded out of her as she fell limp in my arms, her eyes glazed upwards at Heaven. Years ago, I would've had to fight back the tears, but I've cried so much over it, I can't seem to anymore. It just doesn't work.

"Shit, I'm really sorry to hear." I tell him, giving him a sympathetic look. "I know all too well how it feels to lose someone you love like that. It's painful."

"Your wife, Carley?" He asks, and I nod.

"Yep."

"Clem told me what happened." He murmurs. "I'm surprised you didn't kill the kid. I would've."

"I wanted to. Something inside me stopped me. I like to think that was Carley in the afterlife stopping me. But, maybe it was just me thinking enough people had died. I had lost a lot of good people the few days before… Mia…"

"Mia?" He asks, curiously.

"My sister." I explain. "She was at a soccer tournament in North Carolina when this started, and I thought she was gone. Our paths crossed two years in, with a group of some really good people, AJ's parents were a part of it. They rescued Mia and kept her safe. I didn't think I had any family left, so seeing my baby sister standing right in front of me was something that surprised me, to say the least."

"How'd she… you know?"

Pictures of Bill Carver pop into my mind. That bloodthirsty grin imprinted in my mind standing behind his .44 Magnum, smoking barrel and everything, as a couple of his cronies held me down. I fully expected to be executed that morning, and instead, I got to live with my greatest loss to that point.

The single bullet wound in between Mia's eyes, her blue eyes blankly looking up at me as everything hit me. He executed her, like it was nothing, for something I did.

"We were kidnapped by this man, Carver, who had a community in Tennessee. It was essentially a labor camp, and I was kinda defiant to his leadership. So, he killed my sister to set an example. I got my revenge that night, though."

"Killed him?"

I slowly nod. "Bashed his head in with a crowbar. Didn't stop till his head was a mix of blood, brains, and skull bits. Kinda gross, but I didn't care. I saw red. It was fucked up, but it felt good."

He nods. "I woulda done the same to Marlon. I wanted to, I just never had the chance."

"Someone got him before you?"

He nods once again, as I take a bite of out my apple. "AJ."

The apple chunk lodges itself in my throat, forcing my body to violently cough it back up into my hand. I throw the chunk out my window in disgust, before turning back to Brett. "AJ? What the fuck? You're telling me that a five year old killed Marlon?"

"He shot him in the head, after he'd surrendered." He confirms. "Clem told him it was wrong, but he didn't exactly understand. He's too young. He knows that killing bad people isn't bad, but he doesn't understand when someone's a threat and when someone isn't."

"Fuck me." I groan. "Kate told me it was a bad idea. She told me it was a bad idea to let AJ go with Clem. She said Clem and Gabe should've gone instead, but Clem insisted she wanted to teach AJ how to survive in the outside world, so I trusted her judgement. Fuck… he shouldn't know what killing is like. Not at such a young age. Damn it…"

He remains silent, but frowns, looking out the front window as we start reaching the outskirts of what used to be the city. "I'll talk to him and Clem about what happened later. All I ask from you is that you keep this between us for right now, alright? I'll settle this issue, but if everyone hears about a five year old that murdered someone in cold blood, that might go over pretty badly. So can we keep this between us and your friends you came here with? No one else. Not even Kate. I'll talk to her, too."

"I'll keep quiet about it. AJ's not a bad person. He just made a bad decision." He tells me, which I agree with.

"Of course, of course. I love the kid, just… fuck… this'll be something that we can worry about when we get back." I tell him as I park by some woods on the side of the road. "In the meantime, let's get some wood for the Winter. That's all we really need right now."

He and I get out of the truck, and we grab our rifles and handguns, I also grab the axe, ready to chop some wood to bring back, as he and I walk deep into the woods.

* * *

"So, Clem said you used to play football?" He asks me as I slam the axe down on a fallen tree, splinters flying and the wood splitting.

"Yep." I confirm, "Played Wide Receiver for the Atlanta Falcons. At least, I would have, if the dead didn't start walking. Were you a big football fan?"

He nods back to me. "I lived about half an hour away from Green Bay. Dad would take me and Benji to Lambeau for a Packers game or two every year."

"Wisconsin, eh?" I ask him as I slam the axe down on another piece of wood. "How'd you wind up so far from home?"

"Lots of traveling." He tells me, "We started in the midwest, moved East toward Ohio, then went North through New York, and then back South through Pennsylvania, and we found ourselves in West Virginia with the others."

"And you and your brother lasted through all that, for so long?" I follow up, impressed by the boy and his brother.

He simply nods, pulling out a canteen as he sits down on a log. He sips some water from it and sighs, relaxing in the cool morning air.

"Why don't you start bringing the wood over to the truck?" I suggest as he gives me a look telling me he wants something to do, although he didn't say anything. With a small smile, he gets up, taking an armful of wood and walking back toward the truck, and I grab a new log to chop, looking back at the haul. It's not enough, but it hasn't gotten cold enough that we need it yet, so we've got time. I chop another piece of wood.

Brett seems like a good kid. I hadn't talked much with him since Clem brought him and his people here, but he seems like a capable fighter. He's considerate, a little quiet, but also pretty bright.

But what I think is most amazing is his resiliency. He's lost a lot. His family is gone, his girlfriend was murdered like it was nothing. I'm sure he's lost lots of others, too. We all have. But how he's been able to overcome all that and keep surviving in this world, at a young age, it's impressive. He handles himself pretty well, especially in high-pressure situations. Cutting off his brother's foot so he wouldn't get infected and turn, genius. If only we tried that with… no, it wouldn't have worked with him. He was too far along.

Brett's a strong kid. It's kinda rare nowadays. People have to be hard to survive now, but that's different from being strong. To be strong, you have to be able to keep moving forward, to look out for your people, while being able to do what needs to be done. Clem could be right. Maybe he could be a strong leader in the future. I guess we'll wait and see. I raise the axe above my head, and I swing down, the wood splits in two and the axe lodges itself into the wood stump I was using to support the wood. I grab the handle, and with a grunt, I try and dislodge it from the stump, wiggling it around before pulling it back out, forcing myself backwards a step as it's finally dislodged.

I hear a clicking noise from behind me, and someone juts the barrel of a gun to the back of my head. Before my attacker can even do anything, I drop the axe to my side, raising my hands above my shoulders. I patiently wait, but my attacker says nothing, and a confused look forms on my face.

"This is usually the part where you start telling me what to do, isn't it?" I ask as my attacker remains silent. Confused, I slowly turn around to my attacker whose eyes meet mine.

It's a girl, black hair, hazel eyes, and a black bandana covering the rest of her face, although her eyes have a nasty glare in them that I can only assume is matched by the rest of her face. She holds a rifle at my neck as she and I look each other dead in the eyes. Behind her, another individual, with Brett tied up and gagged. My eyes shoot open our gazes meet.

"Son of a bitch…"

* * *

_Brett's POV_

Ian seems pretty cool. He's a super strong, confident guy, but he's also really down to Earth. It's almost impossible to think he's done some of the messed up things Clem's described. But, it's pretty clear he did. He's a very open and honest guy, which I respect. In a world like this, it's easy to try and lie your way through it, but not Ian. He calls things like he sees them, and he isn't afraid to tell it like it is.

He's lost a lot, like me, but he's lost a lot more, his wife, his family, his football career, friends, and plenty of other people, I have to assume. But even then, he kept moving forward. No matter what, he kept looking ahead. That's a strong person. That's someone I want to be. I want to make Mom, Dad, Brody, and everyone else watching over me proud. I like to think I'm doing my best, even if I've fucked up sometimes. It's kinda hard not to fuck up every now and then, especially in this world. It's just that now, when you fuck up, people can die. Death is inevitable, but I can't let more people start dying cause of that.

Ian has me taking wood back to the truck, which I don't mind. It gives me something to do. It's nice to get to walk through the woods a bit, at least to explore outside the city walls a bit, even if there isn't much left to explore.

As screwed up as this world has been for the better part of a decade, this world is pretty beautiful. It's kinda like someone hit the reset button on everything, and now it's going back to its old way. Of course, if I had it my way, I'd be in college, my family and friends are all alive, and people aren't coming back from the dead. But still, given how things are, it could be a lot worse. Hell, I could be dead just as easily as anyone I've lost these past seven years. So, I guess I can thank whoever for that.

I reach the truck, placing the pieces of wood I collected in the bed, as someone grabs me around the neck with a chokehold. I struggle, but it's no use. Someone kicks me in the side of the knee and I collapse on the side of the road.

"Well look at this." Lilly smugly smiles as she plants her boot on my chest. "Brett. I didn't think I'd run into you again. After you let me go, I figured that was it. We're just out here on a scouting mission for our war, minding our own business, and you happen to cross our paths again. How convenient." She gives me a vicious smile as another one of her troops walks over to her. A shorter, black-haired girl with hazel eyes, a black bandana covering her face, and an olive green camo jacket, with some black jeans and some dirty brown boots.

"Ma'am, you know him?" She asks Lilly, who doesn't break her stare at me.

"All too well, corporal." Lilly dryly responds. "He and his friends were responsible for blowing up the Fitzgerald. Cute trick, but it doesn't matter now. My people will win their war, one way or another."

"Fuck your war, and fuck you." I spit back at her. "For everything you've done, you deserve to lose."

Amused, she takes her boot off me, grabbing my collar and standing me up on my feet. She turns to the other troop, a small smile on her face. "Corporal Morin, do you have any rope for our friend here?"

She nods back to Lilly, handing some rope to the Delta leader as I get tied up. As my arms get more and more snugly wrapped around my body, I look back at Lilly. "I hope you know I'm gonna keep my promise to you. You better hope I don't get my hands on a gun, cause the first round is going right between your eyes."

She softly chuckles. "I'm sure you will, kid. You should feel glad you're even alive right now. All the trouble you and your friends have caused would warrant me killing you, but we saw you're with a new community now. A big one. Lots of people. We need lots of people. You see where I'm going with this?"

"You already know my answer. I'm not fighting for you or your fucking Delta." I growl to her, which only amuses her more.

"We'll see about that. In the meantime…" She grabs the rest of the rope from her corporal, wrapping it around my head, specifically my mouth to keep me from talking. "We saw you with someone else. He's deeper in the woods, isn't he? Perhaps he'll be more willing to negotiate."

I keep a stone cold look on my face, but my chest sinks. Ian. He knew Lilly. He knows she's still out here. And she knows he's still around, too. Oh shit…

She shoves me forward, "Move. Take us to your friend."

I gulp. Seeing no other option, I comply.

Through the woods, held at gunpoint by Corporal Morin, I trudge through the dirt and leaves down the path, and the sound of Ian chopping the wood comes within earshot. Lilly drags me behind a tree and puts a knife to my throat.

"Make a sound and it'll be your last." She warns me with a whisper, poking my throat with the blade. My heart racing, breathing light, I quickly nod as she turns to her corporal. "Disarm the other one."

Silently, Morin goes from behind the tree, creeping up on Ian, who remains oblivious to it all. I want to warn him, but I know both of us will be killed before we can do anything. She finally gets close enough to Ian, putting the barrel of her gun to the back of his head, and he immediately stops what he's doing.

"This is usually the part where you start telling me what to do, isn't it?" He remarks after a moment of silence.

Lilly drags me out from behind cover, keeping the blade to my throat as Ian slowly turns around. He looks at the corporal, then at me, and then up at Lilly, and his eyes shoot wide open.

"Son of a bitch…"

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"Lilly?"

"Ian?"

She lowers the knife held to Brett's throat, stunned, as her other troop backs off, turning to Lilly. "You know him, too, ma'am?"

"We go back, Corporal." She mutters. "When Clem told me you were alive, I was sure she was just bluffing. And yet, here we are. And you're even with this piece of work and his friends? I'm not shocked for a moment."

"So, what do you want?" I ask her, as she throws Brett to the ground, he lets out a muffled grunt as his body hits the ground.

"I'll cut to the chase. You have a community near here. Don't lie. My scouts have already told me. We want to work out an… arrangement, so to say."

"What kind of arrangement?" I ask her, skeptical.

"My community, the Delta, is at war with a group that lives around here. This group is ruthless, crafty, and if we don't get support, we'll die."

I cross my arms, staring right back at her. "So? What reason do I have to help you? In case you can't remember, we didn't exactly leave things on good terms."

"I know what I did seven years ago, and we can talk about that. But, you need to understand that my people are good people, and they're on the verge of being slaughtered by some heartless bastards that'll turn their sights to you next." She tells me.

"You shot Carley like it was nothing. I should've shot you that night. You should feel glad I gave you a fighting chance out there."

"You've changed." She notes. "The Ian I knew was hard, but he helped people who needed it."

"You know why I'm not helping. I've got my own people to look out for. And for all I know, this is you trying to trick me into something."

She frowns, before crouching down to Brett, taking out her knife and cutting his binds. He gets to his feet, stumbling back over to me. Relieved he's safe, but confused by her actions, I glance back at her. "What's this?"

"Consider it an act of good faith. If you're not gonna help me, don't come crying when your people are attacked next." She grimaces. "We'll probably be dead, anyways."

Still confused, I frown, giving her a weird look. This doesn't seem like Lilly. She seems desperate for help. So this means there's two things this could mean. She's either lying, trying to get something out of me, or she's being sincere, and her people actually are in trouble.

Knowing Lilly, it's probably the prior.

From behind Lilly, a walker stumbles down the path, and I unsheathe my knife to take care of it, nonchalantly walking past the others as it stumbles towards me.

"Oh, shit…" Lilly murmurs from behind me as the walker stops moving, frozen in place, staring me back in the eyes. Taken aback by its gaze back at me, I take a step back, not breaking my stare back at it.

"Ian…" Brett says shakily from behind me, but I don't respond, slowly backing up as the walker stares back at me, not moving at all.

I finally break the staredown between me and the walker, looking around the four of us, and we're surrounded by them, walkers, not moving, just standing and staring.

"What the Hell are they doing? Why aren't they trying to eat us?" Brett asks, just as confused as I am, but Lilly gives him an answer.

"Those aren't walkers." She mutters back to him. He and I both look back at her, only more confused than before. The situation makes itself more apparent as I turn back to the first walker, still in its same spot, but no longer hunched over, rather upright like a human.

Like a human, it walks over to me, reaching behind and pulling out a sawed off double-barrel shotgun, pointing it right at me. I instinctively back up, as it continues to approach me, before I bump into the rest of them. The rest of the "walkers" follow suit, walking in and making the circle tighter, before the first one and I lock eyes once again, this time, it has words for me.

"Trail ends here." She says, with a chilling Southern twang to her voice.

**Happy Summer, everyone. Welcome to my third story, ****_The Enemy of My Enemy_****. My first two stories, as I previously mentioned, have taken place during the canon of the TellTale games as well as my personal canon for parts. Well, this one does not revolve around any one game, rather following the events of ****_Blood Brothers_****, which in itself was a continuation of ****_Too Far Gone. _****Idk when I'll be releasing this story but whatever day this chapter goes up (Likely Friday), that'll probably be the day of the week all chapters will go up. Hope you're excited, cause I've got a Hell of a plan for this one :] **


	2. Whispers

**Chapter 2 - Whispers**

Stunned, I stare back at the woman, whose pale green eyes meet mine as she walks right up to me, a mask covering her face made from a walker's face. "You are where you do not belong." She whispers to me, my already rapid heartbeat quickens from the intensity in her voice. She does a slight nod to the ground, and we all get the hint, kneeling and putting our hands up

"We don't want any trouble." Lilly says calmly, but still with an ounce of shakiness in her voice. I glance over at her, and back at her corporal, both of them wide-eyed and look absolutely terrified. Brett, confused like myself, seems cool and collected, although I can't tell if he's a little scared.

Me? I'm scared shitless of these people already.

"There will be no conflict," The walker-lady tells us, "So long as you do not intrude on our land. If you do, there shall be conflict."

"We'll stay off your land, we promise." Lilly assures her, almost out of pure desperation. "Please, just let us go back to our community. It's not far. We'll stay off your land."

The walker-lady turns to Lilly, slowly walking over to her, even taking off her walker mask to reveal her real face, an older, bald woman, dirt or some sort of grime caking parts of her face, making those pale green eyes stick out all the more. All in all, this woman is very creepy, yet the look she gives me tells me she is not someone to be fucked with.

The woman suspiciously eyes Lilly and her corporal, glancing back and forth at the two women. She doesn't say a word, just slowly shifting her gaze among the two of them.

"Alpha…" One of the others, a man in a similar walker masks, speaks up in a growling whisper.

"Quiet." The woman, who I now know goes by Alpha, responds to one of her other walker friends. The man, insistent on getting through to her, persists.

"Alpha, these people, they're-"

His body goes flying to the sound of an ear-piercingly loud boom as his body lands with a loud thud several yards back. All eyes go to Alpha, who lowers the shotgun and its smoking barrel, turning back to us with a glare that gives all the warning necessary, before turning back to the man, his guts splattered around him. He lets out a feeble dying groan, struggling to raise his head.

As casually as possible, she walks toward his body, pointing the shotgun right at his face, and I force myself to look away as I know what's coming.

"I said, 'quiet'." She whispers to her comrade before another loud boom follows. I dare not look at the disgusting aftermath, knowing how messy it has to be.

As though she didn't just kill one of her own, she strolls back towards us, ejecting the spent shotgun shells and putting a couple of fresh ones in. She points the shotgun at me, then behind me at Brett, then over at Lilly, and finally setting her sights on the corporal. She grabs the young woman by the collar, throwing her to the ground with little effort. She yelps as her body hits the ground, her bandana becoming undone in the process, giving me a full view of her face as she turns to me, pinned down by Alpha's boot on her neck. Her hazel eyes meet mine with a desperate look in them, a light amount of tears welling up in her eyes.

"Please no. Please don't. Please." She quickly and quietly whimpers to Alpha, who remains apathetic. She points the shotgun to the corporal's head, looking back at me.

"Cryin' is a sign of weakness." She whispers to her, whose look of absolute terror is second to none.

"Don't kill her. Don't do it. We… w-w-we will not intrude on your land, or mess with your people, or anything. Just let us go home, and that'll be the end of it." Brett shakily offers to Alpha, who blankly stares back at him.

Pondering for a moment, a small smile forms on her face. "Very well. I shall lead you back to your community. That will be the end of this. There will be no conflict. If we see you again, there will be conflict. Do you understand?"

None of us hesitate to nod.

"Good." She says as she releases her from under her foot, who catches her breath, but doesn't move. "Now, we know where your community is. A couple miles away. We shall escort you back to your people, and I would like to talk with whoever is in charge, set some boundaries." I grit my teeth when she says this, knowing that I'm technically in charge overall. Who do I get to discuss? Eleanor and Javi? No. Dez.

She pulls me up by my collar, looking at me dead in the eyes. With a warm, yet chilling smile, she motions for the others to stand up. "Well? Come on now." She orders the four of us as her walker people start closing in, forcing us to follow her out of the woods. She completely ignores the truck, walking down the road in the direction we came, so I guess she wasn't bluffing that she knew. I wonder if she knows she's only bringing half of us home, too.

God I really hope not.

Regardless, this is gonna be a long walk home.

* * *

That familiar red insignia comes into view, as Alpha and her people march the four of us right up to my own doorstep. Max and Fern, both on guard duty that day, raise their rifles after taking notice of her and her people, but don't dare fire a shot, seeing us as their hostages.

"What's all this?" Max asks, with hints of hostility and confusion to his heavy Southern accent.

"It appears some of your friends have stumbled into our territory." Alpha answers, "We do not want conflict with you, just as you do not want conflict with us. Now, who is in charge here? I would like to speak with him or her."

"Well, it would appear that-"

"Max," I interrupt him, "Get Dez. Please."

He nods, grabbing his walkie-talkie and saying something into it. He puts the walkie back in his pocket and gives me a confirming nod.

"He's on his way."

Minutes later, the gates open, and several of my people, including Javier, his nephew Gabe, and Jason, all walk out, holding different automatic rifles. Thankfully, Jason doesn't have Chandler with him, so I guess Annalyse has him at the nursery. From the half a dozen of my people, a tall, massive african american man steps forward. He takes off his sunglasses and removes the lit cigar from his mouth. Desmond Lawton, Dez for short, a former U.S. Army Ranger and my second in command.

"Are you the one in charge here?" Alpha asks him, and he glances over at me, to which I give him a slow, subtle nod.

"Yeah, I am. What's it to you?" He responds to her.

Amused, she elaborates. "Your people intruded on our land. We came here to return them and discuss how to prevent this from ever happening again. You see, we don't want a fight, we just want to be left to ourselves, you hear?"

"I suppose." Dez responds. "So, what do you propose?"

"I'm glad you asked." She warmly smiles to my lieutenant. "All we ask is that we be left alone, the woods from the Northeast to the coastline. Abide to that land being ours, and you will get your people back. That will be all. Are we in agreement?"

Dez glances toward me, and I do the same subtle nod I just did. He looks towards Brett next, and then to Lilly and her corporal, with some skepticism and confusion. I mouth the words 'Do it' to him. With some new determination, he looks back to Alpha.

"Alright then. You've got a deal. You give these people back, and we will leave you alone."

Alpha looks back at us, a slight smirk forming on her lips as she nods to some of her men, who shove us forward, and my wife runs through the small crowd forming at the gate, hugging me around my neck, pressing our foreheads together as we both breathe heavily. She kisses me before breaking away for a moment.

"I thought I told you to not get yourself killed out there." She scolds me quietly.

"Technically I didn't." I remark back to her, "I'm standing right here, aren't I?"

She shakes her head as our foreheads remain together, "I don't know if I want to slap you or kiss you."

"The latter, please." I respond as I pull in for another kiss, my and my wife's lips meeting for a short, but passionate kiss. The two of us pull away, some tears welling in her hazel eyes that I make sure to wipe away for her.

Alpha clears her throat, interrupting our tender moment as all attention turns back to her. "I hate to interrupt, but I want this to be known. You are back with your people. This is the end. Do not come back. Not for your truck, not for your weapons, nothing. If you intrude again, there will be dire consequences." She warns us.

"Like what?" Dez asks, skeptically, but she simply rolls her eyes.

"Make it easier on yourselves and just don't do it." She glares, before signalling to her men, the dozens of them turning around and walking off with her. As they fade from view, concerned murmurs start coming from the crowd.

Lilly walks up next to me, a bit unsettled by the whole incident. "That was a close one." She mutters. "We could've been killed out there."

"Yeah, no shit." I snap back to her. "What the fuck was that?"

"They call themselves the Whisperers." She tells me, "Trust me, Alpha is not bluffing."

"What're you talking about?"

"Can we talk about this inside your walls? I don't feel comfortable out here."

I scowl back at her uneasiness, but then I see her corporal's uneasiness, too, and I have a change of heart. Maybe Lilly is sincerely scared of these people. Lilly, the Air Force member, the one that has stared death itself in the face hundreds of times and still lived to tell the tale, scared of some woods people that wear walker skins. I concede, and with a sigh, I turn back inside. "Let's go. We can talk inside." She and the corporal follow, but I stop and turn back towards them, specifically Lilly. "Do not make me regret this." I growl to her.

With a nod, she follows me in as the crowd disperses, leaving Max and Fern at their post, and Dez and Kate with the four of us.

"So, who's this?" Kate asks me, nodding toward Lilly and her corporal.

"Kate, this is…" I hesitate, knowing what her reaction will probably be, "This is Lilly. And that's…" I look over at the corporal, who sports a small smile.

"Maya. Maya Morin." The raven-haired girl responds to my wife, but as I expected, my wife is more focused on Lilly.

"Lilly? Ian, is this-"

"Yes." I interrupt her. "That's her. I'll explain everything later, but she and I have some things to discuss."

She coldly glances at Lilly, before accepting what has to be done. "I'll see you at home." She leaves with a peck on the lips, walking down the street towards our home.

"So... she's your wife?" Lilly asks me, and I nod in return. "So that means Carley didn't make it…"

I sharply inhale, trying my damndest to block that memory from my brain, "The meeting place is just down the block. Dez, I want you here, too." I mutter through gritted teeth, walking off toward the church. The four of them follow, not saying another word.

* * *

I pull out a map of Virginia and place it on the table. My city outlined in red, this leaves a lot of land still to be covered. Around the table, Dez, Lilly, Maya, and Brett all look around the map as well.

"So, the Whisperers, what do you know about them?" I ask Lilly and Maya, the two of them clearly not on good terms with them.

"They're a group to the North of here. They live in the woods, and they use that to their advantage. But they're not just some crazy woods people. Oh, no… They're ruthless, fiercely territorial, and bloodthirsty." Lilly explains.

"Oh, great." I groan, "And now you've got me involved with them."

"How many of them are there? Were the thirty or so they brought all of them?" Dez follows up, and Maya shakes her head.

"We can't be sure. They don't wear walker skins to look tough. They're crafty. They use them to-"

"To blend in with herds." Brett finishes her thought. "We met a guy who did that. I think Clem even mentioned that he was with these Whisperers at one point. They're able to direct herds and send them where they want." Maya and Lilly nod as he explains.

I look at Brett, intrigued. "Get Clem here. If she knows one of these guys, I want to pick her brain on this."

He hesitates for a moment, glancing between me and Lilly, before getting up from his seat and walking out of the room. I sigh, slumping down into my seat and rubbing my temples. "What have you gotten me into?"

"I know, I've done some really fucked up things. But you need to know that what I do now, I do for my people. My group, the Delta, is at war with the Whisperers." She explains to me, "We've lost a lot of people over the past year. Friends, family, lovers, it's been hard. I've got a little girl back home, and I want her to be able to live in a world where she doesn't have to be scared of getting killed by groups of sick fucks like the Whisperers. There's enough to be scared of in this world, but I want to keep my people as safe as possible. I'm sure you can relate."

I nod back to her. "Alright, I'm listening. But I'd be lying if I said I felt inclined to get involved. You get why this is, right?"

She solemnly nods, "I do. But, at the same time, you understand why we need Richmond's help, right? My people won't make it another six months. And now, they know you. After we're destroyed, they're going to come after you, your family, your people, and burn it all to the ground. I've seen them do it."

I frown to my old friend, who gives me a look of sincere and desperate need. I sigh, conceding to her. "What do you need from me?"

"We need soldiers. People who can help defend the Delta. If Richmond and the Delta can work together, we can end this war, and our people will be safer because of it."

I walk over to an open window, overlooking the city. In the streets, there are kids playing, friends talking, dozens upon dozens of people living perfectly ordinary lives, at least as close to ordinary as possible. If we get involved in this war, that all goes away. Do I really want to take that away from them, for a conflict that we have nothing to do with?

But at the same time, if this situation is as bad as Lilly and Maya have described, can I just turn my back on them? If I do that, I'm letting dozens, maybe even hundreds die. And what if they come for us next, like Lilly warned? Sure, we've got an ally to the West in the Hilltop, but they're smaller.

But what if I get my own people killed? If we get involved, it's gonna get bloody, and I don't want to risk their lives, especially for a conflict we didn't need to be a part of. Richmond has no issue with the Whisperers, that's all the Delta's thing. If we start picking fights like that, what does it mean for us? Sure, we could maybe wipe them all out, but what if we can't? We barely have anything in terms of an army, mostly because of the fact we've never needed one. Who would I even put in charge of building an army? I guess Dez, the ex-Army Ranger who would probably know about this sort of thing.

So, we barely have an army, I still don't fully trust Lilly, and I barely even know a thing about who our enemy would be. It's not a tough decision to make, although it's not one I want to make.

With a sigh and a frown, I turn to the Delta women. "I'm sorry. I can't let my people fight a war we have no business fighting. It's just not worth the risk. I've built something good here, and sending good people to die in your war, all at the risk of getting more people killed here, I… I can't do that in good conscience…"

I see their hearts shatter in real time, which only leaves a sinking feeling in my stomach. Lilly and I had our differences, and I don't want her to die, but I don't want tons of my own people to die in the hopes of saving a smaller community that I have no allegiance to. It's shitty, but it's the right call.

"Sir, I wanna give this place a chance." Dez interjects, and I glance back at him in surprise. "These people could offer a lot to Richmond, and with a little support, we can beat these Whisperer assholes and not have to worry about them. Plus, we get an ally to the North if everything goes well."

"What're you implying?" I ask my lieutenant, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm saying," He elaborates, "If we work with the Delta, we can take out the Whisperers, so we don't have to worry about an attack from them, all while helping these people out. There's no need to just turn them away like this."

"Dez," I remind him, "We barely have enough to defend ourselves as is. We don't know who the Whisperers are, or how many of them there are. I'm not risking any of my people out there."

"So what happens when the Whisperers come at us? They know Lilly and Maya, they're not stupid. Once they see them back at the Delta, they're gonna connect the dots and come after us. I don't know about you, but I'd want to take them out before they take us out. I'd say risking some people now to avoid what could happen if we don't act on this is a risk we have to take."

I sit back down, looking at the map where Lilly mapped out her community's location. About two hours away, on the Southern end of the Shenandoah River, a community of about two hundred, although that number goes down with each Whisperer attack, as Lilly had explained earlier. In black pen, we have a rough outline of the Whisperer's area, the wooded area from where we first encountered them to the coastline, mostly now woods and overgrown areas, the route to the Delta gets dangerously close to their territory. But maybe Dez is right. If the Whisperers do choose to attack us, it couldn't hurt to have the Delta on our side, to whatever extent they're able to help.

"You're absolutely sure about this?" I ask Dez, to which he returns a confident nod.

"We can't wait until they show up on our doorstep, sir. If these people can be any sort of help against the Whisperers, then we should help bring the fight to them."

I sigh, taking one more look at the map, before I look back up at Dez. "You see that this is very risky, right? If this goes badly, hundreds of people are gonna die."

"I understand, sir. But it needs to be done."

Once again, I sigh, conceding to my lieutenant. "Tell you what, take a few people and go with Lilly and Maya back to the Delta for a few days. Get a good idea of the place and see what we're working with. If things are as bad as it seems, we can talk about this further."

"Roger that. Anyone in particular you want me to bring along?"

The door behind us opens, and three figures walk in, and I nod back to Dez.

"Yes, actually, there is."

* * *

_Brett's POV_

I knock on the door of the house next to Ian's, a small house that looks similar to his, but is where Clem, AJ, her boyfriend, Gabe, and Gabe's uncle, Javier, all live. The door slowly opens moments later, and Clementine's amber eyes meet mine, and she brushes a few of her messy black curls aside.

"Hey, Brett." She warmly smiles to me. "What's up?"

"Ian needs you at the meeting place, ASAP. There's a… situation."

"Situation? What's going on?" A voice asks from behind her, and Louis, a taller, slender African-American boy around my age strolls up behind her, concerned and confused.

"It's… You know what? You guys should just come with me. It'll make sense in a minute."

The two of them glance at each other for a brief moment, before they both walk out of the house, Clem locking the door behind her. The three of us walk down the street, weaving our way through the kids playing in the streets as Louis asks the golden question.

"So, are you gonna give us any sort of insight as to what we're gonna be talking about?"

"I… I barely even know what's going on." I confess to Louis. "Something happened when Ian and I were out on the supply run, and, well, things might get bad."

"Can you be more specific? What the fuck happened?" He asks more sternly, and I sigh, pulling the two of them aside.

"So you guys remember James, right?" The two of them nod, Clem obviously does, being the one that introduced him to us. "And Clem, you remember that group he was in, the Whisperers? The people that wore the walker masks?"

Once again, she nods. "Right. What's the problem?"

I hesitate, looking around the area, making sure no one can hear us. "Ian and I ran into some of them in the woods. It turns out that they're not good people, and Ian wants to know what he can about them."

"So, where exactly do I fit into this? I barely knew the guy." Louis asks, and I simply shrug back.

"Because you knew him, and because you were at Clem's. What were you doing there, anyways? Shouldn't you be out on the hunting trip?"

He smiles slyly, shaking his head. "Nope, I bet Aasim a shift that I could do better on the shooting range than him. I decided to cash that in today so I could hang out with Clem and teach her some card games."

I chuckle lightly, knowing that Aasim may be the only person in the world worse at shooting than Louis. "You know he'll ask you again tomorrow, probably even double or nothing, right?"

To that, he cockily smiles. "Of course, which is why I already have the next two shifts I want to take off in mind. I'm thinking I might teach AJ Go Fish next Tuesday."

I smile at the thought of AJ becoming a remotely normal child before my thoughts switch back to the important matter here. The Whisperers and the Delta. Alpha and Lilly.

Fun.

"So, what, Ian wants me to tell him about James?" Clem asks.

"Well, kinda." I try and explain to her. "You'll see what exactly he wants in a second. He wants to see if he can know as much about the Whisperers as possible before going into this."

"What's he going into?" She follows up, and all I can do is shrug. I don't know a thing.

"I guess we'll find out."

Minutes later, I push open the big doors to the church, walking down the middle of it to the room on the left, the Meeting Place, and I turn the knob to enter the room, Ian, Dez, Lilly, and Corporal Morin still discussing the Whisperers.

"Ah good, you're back." Ian says to me before turning to Clem and Louis.

Clem and Louis barely acknowledge Ian, as their sights are set on Lilly, who leans back in her chair, staring them right back with squinted eyes, although not quite the glare I had grown accustomed to since we first crossed paths. Clem, meanwhile, still glares at Lilly. Louis, clearly still shaken up from when he was captured, slowly trembles, but keeps his jaw locked as he stares ahead. "What is she doing here?" Clem growls at the sight of our former(?) enemy. She then turns to me, "You seemed to forget to mention that Lilly was joining us."

"I knew you wouldn't come if I did." I admit to her. "Look, I'm not happy about it either, but this is bigger than what happened with them and the school."

"Clem, Brett, Louis," Ian assures us, "I know. I know Lilly and her people put you guys through Hell and back. I know that they've killed and maimed some of your friends. And normally, that'd be enough for me to turn them away, especially with how important you are to me, Clem. But, like Brett said, this is bigger than that. The Whisperers are a threat to our wellbeing, and I want you guys to go with Dez to the Delta back with them. Not to fight, no, I'm not your 'friend' Marlon. I want you guys to go there, see what it's all about, and report back. No combat, nothing of the such."

Clem and I stare at Ian in disbelief. Really? He's sending us to the Delta? No way. This is gonna turn into us fighting for them.

"Woah!" Louis immediately protests. "Three weeks ago, this crazy bitch tried to kill us all. Like, multiple times. And you told us yourself, she tried to kill your wife. Why the fuck are we even trusting her?"

"I'd be lying if I said I was fully on board." He admits to us. "But, Dez made some convincing points, and if the Whisperers are as big of a threat as Lilly and Maya here have described, then it would be mutually beneficial to work with the Delta here and deal with this threat before the Whisperers set their sights on us."

"What about AJ?" Clem asks. "He's going to be worried sick. He hasn't been away from me for any sort of time since… since…"

"I know, Clem. But you, of all people, should be going. Brett told us about how you met a Whisperer not too long ago. He said that this guy helped you defeat the Delta a few weeks ago."

Her expression softens as I hear her softly mumble James' name to herself. "His name was James. He and his boyfriend were part of the Whisperers, and he told me how ruthless this group was. They hate weakness, and they'll even kill their own because of it." She recalls, "They also have this tactic of collecting walkers, and then directing them toward a target."

"That's how you snuck onto the boat." Lilly notes angrily. "Using the herd as a cover. The Whisperers have been doing that for years. They don't use much for weapons. To them, walkers are their weapons. They'll take a dozen or so Whisperers, all in their walker getup, and then they have a stockpile of walkers somewhere, and they'll take maybe a hundred of them out toward their target, and watch on as the walkers ravage through communities. It really is amazing how resourceful they are, pieces of shit."

Clementine nods as she continues, "James was different though. He didn't like hurting people, so he left. And he traveled by himself for years before coming across AJ and I one night. He helped us out, before we went our separate ways for a few weeks. We ran into him a couple of days before we attacked the Delta ship, and he decided to help us with his personal stockpile of walkers to sneak onto the ship."

"This James guy, he seems like he could be very helpful. Is there any way, by any chance, we could maybe find him, try and pick his brain about the Whisperers a bit?"

Clem grimaces and shakes her head, glaring over at Lilly, who ignores her glares. "He's dead. He died in the attack, and the last I ever saw of him, he was a walking corpse floating down a river."

"Shit," Ian curses. "Well, that's fine. We continue with the plan as is. You kids get packed up. You leave in three hours. Dez," He turns to the man, about to get up, help Lilly and Maya get ready. Get a truck and meet us out by the gates, three hours."

"Got it." Dez nods back as he, Lilly, and Maya all walk out, leaving me, Clem, and Louis with Ian in the room.

Ian slumps back into the chair, burying his hands into his face and lets out a heavy sigh. "Fuck… What am I getting into?"

"What're we getting into?" Louis asks him. "You know what happened between us and Lilly. Now we're getting ready to help them? This makes no sense. Why would you, of all people, want to help her?"

"Louis," He begins, "Have you ever heard the expression, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend'?"

"I-What?" Louis stares back at him, baffled. "How can you say that? She IS the enemy here!"

"No, she's not. Not anymore." He tells us, "Right now, we need to focus on the Whisperers. After, we can work things out with Lilly and the Delta. But let's focus on the task at hand. Right now, the Whisperers are the big threat here."

"Let me ask you something," Clem interjects, "How do we know Lilly isn't plotting something bigger? You and I both know she'll do anything to get what she wants."

"All too well, Clem." He confirms, "Well, we don't know. This could be the wrong decision, but I'm gonna give them a shot. If the Whisperers are as big of a threat as Lilly says, we could be in trouble."

I sigh, glancing at Louis and Clem, Louis especially looking adamant about not going. It should go without saying, but I agree with them. As bad as it would be that they'd be fighting their war alone, I really couldn't care less. At the same time, though, I trust Ian's judgement. So while I don't like this, I guess I'll do it.

Here's hoping I don't get killed out here, be it by the Whisperers, the Delta, or whatever the fuck else we come across.

"Fuck that." Louis snaps, "And fuck them. This place is strong enough, and we definitely don't need to be playing nice with the Delta."

"Louis, stop." Clementine says to him, "I don't like it, but calm down. I don't want to help her, but maybe it's worth helping the Delta, like Ian said."

Louis glances back at me, to which I shrug back. Finally, he concedes. "Fine. I'll do it. I'll go along and help the same people that wanted to kill us a few weeks ago."

Ian nods to the three of us. "I know I might be sending you kids to the meat grinder here, but you're in good hands with Dez, and Lilly knows she'll have Hell to pay for if anything happens to you guys. Now you guys should go back, get ready. You're leaving in a few hours."

The three of us walk out of the meeting place, none of us happy about this in the slightest, but we really don't have a choice in the matter. So, I guess we're helping the community that tried to kidnap us to be their soldiers, and then tried to kill us when we refused. It's bullshit. It's bullshit that Ian's sending us out there. It's bullshit he's getting us involved in their war. It's bullshit that we're gonna be fighting on the same side as Lilly. We shouldn't be doing this. It doesn't make sense. Why are we doing this? Setting up an alliance with Lilly? What good will that bring? If anything, she'll backstab us. I'd bet all the money in the world on that.

Clem breaks from the group, turning toward her place, likely having to break the news to AJ and her boyfriend, as Louis and I continue to our apartment a block away.

"This fucking sucks." Louis grumbles as he and I step into our apartment. "Why should we care if the Delta gets killed? Fuck them! And fuck Lilly, especially."

I nod in agreement. "I couldn't care less about that. I really wish I could understand Ian's thought process here. Is he thinking that the Whisperers are a bigger threat than Lilly's Delta? I call bullshit on that. For all we know, this is Lilly trying to get a few more soldiers for her war, just like with Marlon and the twins a year ago."

"Dude, that's probably exactly it." He agrees. "Like, I wouldn't be shocked for a minute if that were the case."

"Brett? Louis?" We stop talking as we hear my brother's voice from the other room. The bedroom door opens, and soon enough, my brother hobbles out on his crutches, his hair a mess and still wearing his boxers and a white tee shirt. He must've just gotten out of bed, being his day off.

"Benji." I smile to my little brother. He smiles back to me, albeit concerned by Louis' expression.

"What's going on?"

I hesitate, looking over at Louis, who apathetically looks back at me. "Go ahead. Tell him."

I sigh, looking back to my brother. "Ian has us going on a mission for the next few days. We're going to the Delta to see if... " I shake my head slowly during my pause. "To see if it would be beneficial to join their war with the Whisperers."

My brother simply stares back at me, bewildered. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open, all he can do is shake his head. "You've gotta be kidding me…"

"I wish I was." I admit to him. "But it's real. Ian has us going back to the Delta with Lilly in a few hours."

He sits down on our couch, absolutely speechless. "No… Brett, you can't. Don't. You can't do this."

"Benji, I don't have a choice." I tell my brother.

"Bullshit." He fires back. "You can't go and help those people. I don't need to remind you of what they've done, do I?" He asks me, pointing to the stump where the lower half of his right leg used to be. I remember all too fondly the circumstances that led up to him hurting his leg, and then losing it after.

I frown and shrug to my brother. "I'm sorry, Benji. We promised him. We don't want this, just as badly as you don't want us to do it, but Ian thinks there's a good reason for doing this, so my hands are kinda tied here."

He remains silent for another moment, before glancing back at me and Louis with a defeated sigh. "Well, I guess that's that then. Lilly's getting her soldiers after all. We gained nothing by fighting back. We could be in just about the same situation, except we don't lose Marlon, Mitch, Tenn, or Brody. Minnie and all those Delta troops we killed, they'd be alive, too. Great... Just great."

"That's not how this is," I explain to him. "There's no fighting. This is strictly recon, scouting out the place and seeing if there's a chance that siding with them will be good for Richmond. Trust me, that's all it is for right now."

Benji scoffs, rolling his eyes as he lays back down on the couch. "Don't be naive, Brett. It's too late. By going out there, you're giving Lilly what she wants. It might seem like this is just a recon mission right now, but the moment shit hits the fan out there, they'll throw a gun in your hand and tell you to fight. Maybe you'll live, maybe you'll die. It won't matter to them, as long as you die protecting the Delta."

"Maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong." I respond to my brother, "But that's beside the point. Louis, Clem, and I are set to leave with Dez, Lilly, and one of Lilly's corporals back to the Delta in two hours, we've gotta pack."

"Well good luck with that." He remarks, grabbing his book from the coffee table and opening it to where he left off.

With a disappointed sigh, I shake my head as Louis and I go to our respective rooms, and I grab my backpack from the foot of my bed, completely empty, and I start filling it with some clothes for the trip, a couple shirts, some boxers, and a pair of sweatpants all fitting in there nicely. I lost my knife when the Whisperers confronted us, so I look under my pillow, seeing my backup option sitting there, just as I'd left it. Delighted, I put it in my back pocket and close my backpack, walking out of the room as I can hear Louis still getting ready from his room.

I sit down next to Benji, who casually reads his book, but I can tell he's not comfortable. I get it, he hates that we're going to the Delta. I do, too. I really hope he understands that I agree with him.

He sighs as he puts down the book, giving me a smile that I know isn't very genuine, but still offers some sort of encouragement. "Stay safe out there, alright? I didn't survive that bite just to lose you a few weeks later, got it?"

I chuckle back to my brother, nodding toward him. "You got it. Try not to cause too much trouble around here."

He looks back at me with a fake confused expression. "Me? Cause trouble? I should be saying that to you, you being the troublemaker out of the two of us."

I roll my eyes to him. "It's a bit of both of us. I think we got that from Mom."

He smiles warmly as he nods in confirmation. "Definitely Mom. Remember all the times she'd pull pranks on us and Dad?"

"I remember her hiding all your candy and told you she ate it all the last Halloween." I remind him. "I also have fond memories of a young Benjamin Sanderson crying like a little bitch for the next hour until she caved."

That smile on his face becomes a scowl and he starts slowly shaking his head. "Well I have a fond memory of her buying you bright pink sandals for your eleventh birthday, and all your friends laughing while you were embarrassed in front of the girl you liked."

My mind flashes back to my eleventh birthday, where Mom and Dad invited all of my best friends to a party at a water park the next town over. Sure enough, my crush, a girl named Emily, was there, and it was pretty clear to anyone with half a brain I liked her, but couldn't do a thing about it. Even more so, she was sitting right next to me when I opened up a pair of bright pink sandals.

I don't think I need to describe how I felt that afternoon.

"Touche." I grin to my brother, who sports a similar grin back at me. "You know, we're probably the only two from that day that are alive today. Mom and Dad are gone, all my friends from then are probably gone, it's fucking crazy."

"Too right, man. Can you believe it's been almost seven and a half years? Since this started?"

I don't immediately answer, doing the math in my head. The outbreak, the date burned in my head, July 17, 2010. Today, late December of 2017. Seven years, five and a half months. "Fucking Hell," I curse, "Where did the time go?"

He shrugs. "I guess when you've been trying to survive all this time, you lose track of time.

"I guess so. It really makes you think, we've been orphans for over five years. No parents, all we've really had is each other ever since Dad died."

"Until we got to the school." He adds, getting another nod from me. "We've had a new family ever since."

"And don't you forget it," Louis chimes with a smile as he sits on the arm of the couch, right next to me. "I'm all packed, Brett. You ready to go help some murderous raiders kill some woods people before said woods people try and kill us?"

"Nope!" I grin back to him. "But yeah, let's get going. We can make a quick stop at the armory and arm up before we meet with everyone else."

"I suppose having weapons to defend ourselves from Whisperers, raiders, walkers, wild animals, and whatnot would be a pretty good idea, wouldn't it?"

"That's why I came up with it." I remark back to him.

"Wow. And I thought I had the biggest ego." He murmurs under his breath as Benji grabs his crutches, getting up to send us off.

The three of us hug, before Benji gives us some parting words. "I better see all of you back here in a few days. If any of you die out there, I'm gonna be pissed."

I place a hand on my brother's shoulder. "Wouldn't dream of pissing you off, little brother. Not in a million years."

"Good." He says as the hug breaks away. "This apartment would get too quiet without you guys."

Louis softly chuckles back. "Wouldn't want that to happen now, would we?"

* * *

_Two Hours Later, At the Gate_

_Ian's POV_

Dez pulls the van up, Lilly sitting in shotgun with a map of the area, Maya and Brett in the middle row, Maya sleeps while Brett twirls his knife around in his right hand, and Louis and Clem both sit in the back seat, each of them reading books. I motion for Lilly to roll down her window, which she does, and our eyes meet for one last time today.

"I don't need to explain to you how much of a risk I'm putting these people at by doing this. I also don't need to explain how angry I will be if they don't come back, safe and sound, just like they are now." I remind her, and she gives me a confident nod.

"They'll be safe." She assures me. "We'll have them back in a few days, and then we can talk about this further?"

I reluctantly nod. "Right. Three days, then we talk about this further. Don't make me regret this."

With that, the gates open, and Dez drives off. All I can do is watch as the six of them go back to the Delta.

Fuck, she better not make me regret this.


	3. The Delta

**Chapter 3 - The Delta**

Kate's head lays on my chest as the both of us lay in bed, the warmth of our bodies under the blanket keeping us comfortable in the frigid Winter night. Hours ago, I sent my lieutenant and some kids to the Delta to check the place out, meaning they're probably there now. It's something that'll be on my mind for the next couple of days, until they're back here, safe and sound.

"I had the dream again last night." Kate mumbles from in front of me, and I start lightly rubbing her head.

"The ambush?" I ask her, and she nods.

"Yeah, the ambush. It played out differently this time."

I stop for a second. "How so?"

She turns back toward me, and her hazel eyes meet mine with an upset look on her face. "I was pregnant this time. And you weren't there. No one was. It was just me and those men shooting at me. And that was that. You weren't there, no Prescott, no Eleanor, nothing. Lights out."

"You know I'm not going anywhere. And I'm never gonna leave you alone. You know this." I remind her, rubbing her back to comfort her.

"I do, but if this situation with the Whisperers gets out of hand, you may not have a choice."

"You, Chandler, and our baby are the most important things to me in this world. Keeping you safe comes first, no matter what. No group of crazy woods people is gonna change that. If they want to get to you, they're gonna have to get through me, and I'll kill as many as I can before they get through me." I assure my wife, who simply gives me a small smile back.

"Well I'd much rather you didn't get killed. Our kids are gonna need a daddy."

"And I'll be there to be their daddy. Don't you worry."

"You know I'm still going to."

"Course I know you are." I chuckle as I kiss her head. "It's why I married you and started a family with you. I knew you'd worry. It means you're a good mom."

"I hope I am." She confides in me, "Going into this, parenthood, I wasn't sure about it. Was I ready to be a mother, in a world that wasn't exactly welcoming to babies? I really didn't think so. I just hope we can do right by Chandler and his sister."

"He thinks the world of us, you know. And you've been amazing as a mom." I tell her. "This morning, he wanted to see you so badly when I was getting ready. You were asleep, so I made him breakfast instead."

"I heard him screaming for blueberries." She giggles, and I can't help but smile as well.

"Oh yeah, there were blueberries." I confirm to her. "Lots and lots of blueberries."

"The boy loves his berries."

"Indeed he does." I tell her as a yawn forces its way out of my mouth.

"It sounds like you need some sleep." She remarks, "You had a Hell of a day."

I laugh as Kate and I snuggle into each other, slowly nodding off to sleep. Hell of a day, that's the understatement of the century.

* * *

_A Few Hours Earlier_

_Brett's POV_

A small town comes into view as Dez drives the six of us closer. Some metal walls surrounding the town rise up above the ground and tower above anything else. Finally, after hours of driving, Lilly confirms my suspicions.

"This is it, the Delta."

Dez pulls into the town, full of old houses, some of which overgrown due to the lack of upkeep, but otherwise is a nice little place. Lilly instructs Dez to pull the van in front of a larger house, right by the river bank, which he does. Before we can get out and look around, Lilly turns to the three of us, an uncharacteristically kind look on her face.

"Look, I get what happened between us was bad. Really bad. But please, don't bring up any of the past here. I have a really good image here, and I don't want to ruin mine, my husband's, or the Delta's. That's all I ask of you."

Unsure of it all, I look back at Louis and Clem, both of which reluctant to agree. Louis moreso, scowling back at Lilly, while Clem scowls as well, albeit giving a more sympathetic look, before nodding. "Fine. We won't talk about you attacking us, or kidnapping us, or trying to attack us again, or trying to kill Ian's wife, or that time you-"

"You've made your point." Lilly responds. "Just don't talk about it. I'll talk to Blake about it… when the time's right."

Maya glances at me, confused, and I give her a stone cold look back. She and I look at each other for a moment, before she breaks our little staredown, and I look back at Lilly. "Yeah, we won't talk about it."

Louis rolls his eyes, before nodding. "If they're doing it, then my hands are kinda tied here."

"Good." She smiles, relieved. "Thanks, guys. Now come on. Blake'll want to meet you."

As we all exit the car, the door opens up, and the tallest man I've ever seen walks out. Standing at at least six foot seven, Lilly walks into his arms for a hug and a quick peck on the lips. Lilly and Blake whisper something to each other, before he looks up at us. "Welcome to the Delta. I'm Blake, and I'm in charge of this community."

Lilly glances back to us, "This is Dez, Brett, Louis, and Clementine. They're from Richmond. Their leader and I go back, and he sent some of his people here to see about helping us out."

"Richmond, eh?" He asks, sizing us all up. "We'd heard that there was a community there, but Whisperer territory was near it. We figured it wasn't worth the risk. But maybe, just maybe this'll work perfectly. How did you guys meet?"

I stay quiet for a second, looking over at Lilly, who ignores my gaze, before I look back at Blake. "I was out with Ian, the leader, on a supply run. Lilly and Maya were out on whatever they were doing, and we were confronted by Whisperers soon after our paths crossed."

"And you all made it out alive? Damn. Frankly, I'm shocked. If the Whisperers knew you were Delta…" He says to his wife, who frowns and nods.

"Ian was kind enough to let us stay for a while, and we talked for a bit about the Whisperers. He didn't want to get involved, but Dez insisted they give us a shot, so here we are." She explains to him.

He nods once again, looking up at the wall and treeline. "Well, hopefully this means we'll get some help. We lost almost a dozen people from Whisperer attacks last week. Given that we're a community of roughly two hundred, that's a rate we cannot afford to keep up."

"For every Whisperer we kill, it seems like four of them come back at us." Maya adds. "It's like they're multiplying."

"It might be a good idea to come together and see what we know about all this." Dez suggests to the other adults. "I take it you've been fighting these people for a while now, I'd like to see what we're working with here."

Blake adamantly nods. "Of course. Right inside." He then turns to Maya. "Corporal Morin, why don't you show the others around in the meantime?"

"Sure." Maya smiles to us, motioning for us to follow her as she leads us down a street through the overgrown town. It's mostly old buildings where people live. Although, most of these buildings are pretty empty now, given their dwindling numbers. On the North end of town, the Shenandoah River, a large river that was once a landmark of the area, runs and gives the town a water and fish source, seemingly unlimited for both.

In the middle of the town, she stops in front of a large campfire, a few people sitting around it as a girl, short, brown hair and some pale freckles speckled on her cheeks, plays guitar. As the girl takes notice of us, she stops playing and gets up, running over to Maya.

"You're back!" She grins to Maya as the two girls hug each other.

"Did I miss anything while I was out?" Maya asks the girl, who shakes her head.

"Nothing. It was a quiet day today. Who are they?" She asks, looking over at the three of us.

"Oh right, they're some people from a nearby community, Richmond. Lieutenant Woodson and I came across them when we were out. They might be helping us in the war." Maya explains to her.

"I'm Louis." Louis introduces himself to the girl, uncharacteristically enthusiastic, given his feelings to these people. With a small smile of her own, she extends her hand to him, which he shakes firmly.

"I'm McKenzie. Kenzie for short. I'm Maya's sister." She says to us, turning to Clem and I.

"I'm Clementine." Clem introduces herself to Kenzie, who warmly smiles back at her, before it's my turn.

"Brett." I softly smile to her while extending my hand to her. She shakes it gladly before sitting down on a log, tuning her guitar. With a couple strums, she starts playing a tune on it as Louis sits down next to her, humming along.

All of a sudden, he breaks into song, flawlessly signing along.

_"On a dark desert highways, cool wind in my hair_  
_Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air_  
_Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light_  
_My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim_  
_I had to stop for the night."_

Impressed, Kenzie stops playing and looks at him. "How'd you know I was playing Hotel California?"

"I love that song." He grins. "My Dad had a few Eagles records I loved listening to, and this was my personal favorite. I learned how to play it on the piano, too. I've got the sheet music somewhere back home, albeit it I don't have a piano to play anymore."

"You're a musician, too?" She asks with another small smile, which gets him to pop his collar and flash a confident grin.

"That, I am." He tells her. "I play the piano when I have one, and then, of course, I serenade my friends all the time with a wide array of songs, both songs I've written and songs I grew up listening to."

Her cheeks lightly redden before looking back down at her guitar, and continues the song. Louis clears his throat, and with a wide smile, he, too, continues the song.

_"There she stood in the doorway_

_I heard the mission bell_

_And I was thinking to myself_

_'This could be heaven or this could be Hell'_

_Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way_

_There were voices down the corridor,_

_I thought I heard them say_

_Welcome to the Hotel California_

_Such a lovely place_

_Such a lovely face._

_Plenty of room at the Hotel California_

_Any time of year you can find it here."_

By the time Louis finishes the chorus, he's attracted a small crowd of listeners, sitting around the fire and applauding as Kenzie stops playing. An accomplished grin on his face, he does a respectful bow and wave to the audience. Clem and I glance at each other, impressed at how quickly Louis came around to this place.

As the action dies down, the five of us go back to Maya's house, a small place by the river, near Lilly and Blake's house. She opens the door to her place, and it's kept surprisingly neat, even with how far it is into the apocalypse. She puts her bag down on the kitchen table and motions for us to do the same.

"So, I guess Lilly's having you guys stay with us while you're here." She tells us, pointing to a flight of stairs. "There's a guest room upstairs that'll be good for two of you, and whoever doesn't get that room can crash on the couch."

"I'll take the couch." Clem volunteers. "Given that you guys are roommates already, it just makes sense."

Louis and I simply shrug to each other. She's not wrong. It does make sense. Louis isn't the worst roommate in the world, especially with how well he gets along with Benji and I.

The front door opens, and Lilly strolls in. "There you are. You guys hungry? Blake made dinner and wanted you guys to come over so he could get to know you guys better."

As though it were on cue, someone's stomach grumbles. I glance back at Louis, who glances toward Clem, who sheepishly blushes as more and more eyes go toward her. A small smile forms on Lilly's lips as Kenzie giggles.

"I'll take that as a yes."

* * *

We all sit down around the table as plates of salad, pork, and bread are passed around. Blake, Lilly, Dez, Maya, Kenzie, Louis, Clem, and I all dig into our meals. Blake's no Omar or anything, but having this much food available for a meal nowadays, especially when it's well-prepared, is a blessing in itself. I'm conflicted. Lilly was so heartless and vicious, but Blake is really kind, easygoing, and a good leader. Am I supposed to like the Delta now? Lilly's different than when she tried to kill me, any of the times she tried to. Maybe this is all a facade for her husband. But is it? Or is Lilly that desperate for us to help? I have no idea, and the thought of it all leaves me a little uneasy.

Maybe a month ago, the last time I ever saw Lilly, she said Blake had no idea about what she'd done. So, does that mean she was able to cover up Sophie and Minnie to him, too? It makes me wonder how much Blake doesn't know. If he has no idea about that, who knows what else she's hiding from him?

The defiant side of me wants to spill it for everyone else, let Blake know what she did, how she killed Mitch and James, tried to kill more of us in the process. How Minnie and Sophie were brought to the Delta through kidnapping and intimidation, not voluntary. And how did she cover up the boat? That massive ship that we blew up, does he not know it was us? Maya knew about it, so how wouldn't he? Did she tell him it was Whisperers? Does he know it was us? Fuck me, a million questions are running through my mind.

"So, Clementine," Blake smiles to Clem, digging into her salad. "Lilly told me you knew her from the early days of the outbreak?"

Clem stops eating, swallowing what was in her mouth and glances at Lilly, who nonchalantly continues her meal, before turning back to Blake. "That's right. I was with some people, and we came across her group. Our group was together for a few months before things… fell apart. I was only eight at the time, so I don't remember a lot of the details, but I remember her dad a bit."

"Ian and his first wife, Carley, were part of the group, too." Lilly adds. "Things went pretty good for a few months. But then Dad died and… everything went South from there." She says with a frown as Blake consoles her. "We were attacked by bandits one afternoon, and we tried to hold them off as long as we could. Most of the group escaped, but I got separated from the others, and I thought that was that. I never thought I'd see that group again, especially Clementine of all people."

I don't know about the specifics of the story, but this seems like she's outright lying to her husband. If what Ian told us is true, then yeah, she's lying, or at least not telling the whole story. Maybe she did get separated from the group, but she was kicked out for trying to kill Carley, not whatever she's implying. I almost want to blurt out that she's lying, but given the situation, I decide to bite my tongue and keep it to myself. For a brief moment, Clem and I lock eyes from across the table, and the look that she gives me tells me that my skepticism is warranted. Nonetheless, I stay quiet and eat my food as things go on.

From upstairs, some faint crying pours downstairs, and Lilly and Blake both take immediate notice, nodding to each other as she slides out from her seat and walks upstairs. Blake softly smiles and lets out a quiet chuckle. "Chloe's up."

Moments later, Lilly walks back downstairs, a wide smile on her face as she presents the baby to the rest of us, a beautiful little girl with brown hair and wide brown eyes. I guess she wasn't lying after all. "This is Chloe." She announces to the rest of us. Chloe coos lightly with a small smile to the rest of us as Lilly hands her off to Blake, lightly rocking and bouncing his baby girl in his arms.

I can't help but smile at the sight of it all. Even though it's Lilly, seeing her family all happy like this is a nice sight. She can still go to Hell as far as I'm concerned, but I'd be lying if I said I felt as adamantly about that as I did a few weeks ago. It's weird, seeing someone who was ruthless to us trying to kill or kidnap us is now having dinner with us and showing her soft side. I get it, but it's still strange nonetheless. But I do know one thing for certain, that promise I made to her might have to go on hold. It wouldn't be fair to Blake or Chloe.

But I won't let her know that. I'll let her keep wondering if I'll make good on it. And maybe if I get a reason to, I will make good on my promise. But in the meantime, I'm not going to kill anyone that isn't an immediate threat. It's a good rule to live by in general, but I'm even putting personal revenge aside. If Lilly and her people are willing to play nice right now, then I guess I will, too.

"So, Brett, Clem, Louis, what're your stories?" Blake asks as he looks at the three of us. "I got to know Dez a bit earlier, but I haven't gotten to meet you all yet."

The three of us all stay quiet, looking at one another apprehensively, before Louis decides to go first. "I'm from Pennsylvania, over by Philadelphia. Grew up in a nice house with a pretty rich family. But, I kinda fucked up really badly, and got sent to a boarding school. That was about a year before the outbreak, and I wound up surviving out there for a while with other students. That's where I met Brett and Clem."

"Boarding school? How badly did you fuck up?" Blake asks curiously, and Louis grimaces, shaking his head.

"Pretty badly. It was really bad." He mumbles, and images of Louis admitting to us why he was sent to Ericson in the first place flash back to me. Blake nods sympathetically and doesn't prod further, respecting boundaries.

"I'm from Wisconsin originally." I begin, as Blake turns to me to listen.

"Wisconsin? No kidding. What part?"

"Appleton." I give him a small smile as he gives one, too.

"I grew up in Stevens Point, like an hour away from Appleton. Small world. How'd you end up out here?"

My smile widens and I nod, continuing with my backstory. "My dad, brother, and I did a lot of travelling around once the world ended. After Dad died, my brother and I spent years by ourselves travelling to the East and then moving South, until we came across the school. Louis and the others had been living there for years, holding out the undead and whatnot, and they were very welcoming to me and Benji, well, for the most part." My mind brings back images of me knocking Mitch on his ass after challenging me to a fight. What a strange, awful, wonderfully amazing day. Emphasis on the strange and wonderfully amazing, for the most parts, except for getting shot in the knee. That part kinda sucked.

Finally, he turns to Clem, who looks a lot more comfortable confiding with Blake now that Louis and I have gone, even with our feelings towards Lilly. She begins a story she's already told us, with some equally painful memories.

"I'm from Georgia, I lived a little bit South from Atlanta, at least until the dead started coming back. This man, Lee, found me in my house and took care of me as long as he could. He was helped keep me alive with the first group I was ever a part of, with Ian, Lilly, and everyone else there. But, as time passed, so did just about everyone in the group. Lee got bitten when there weren't that many of us left, and I… made sure he didn't come back when it got too far along."

The table stays silent, even Lilly, who expressed some sort of distaste for this Lee person, seems to feel bad for Clem, and yet she continues with her story. "I got separated from everyone else from the group, so I had to walk through a herd of walkers in Savannah to get out of the city, until I ran into Christa and Omid, a couple from the group, and I thought they were it. They looked after me as long as they could, until the two of them died, too. I ran into another group soon after, and found Ian and Carley as a part of it, and Kenny soon after, too, he was another part of the group that I thought died, but didn't."

"Kenny…" Lilly snarls quietly, shaking her head as she shifts her attention to Chloe, now back in her arms. I wish I had a better understanding of what's going on here. Clem's told me her backstory to an extent, but there's a lot of people I don't know, and frankly the only ones I really know of are Ian, Carley, and Lee. That's it.

Clem glances at Lilly with a slight scowl before continuing once again. "This group fell apart, too. Everyone except Ian died, including Carley, and Ian and I were separated at one point due to… circumstances… and I was on my own with an infant of my own to care for."

Blake looks at her, confused. "An infant of your own? You mean you had a baby?"

"Not exactly." She smiles, referring to AJ. "This couple, Alvin and Rebecca, had a baby, but they two of them died around the time he was born, so I took care of him. His name's AJ, and he's the most important thing in the world to me. He's like a son and a little brother to me."

Now understanding of what she meant, he nods and asks her a follow up. "So, how do you come across these guys?"

"I was on a supply run with AJ one morning," She explains. "I lost control of the car I was driving, and I totalled it, attracting a lot of walkers. I was fortunate enough that Brett and a few others from the school brought me back to their school and let me stay and get better. AJ and I decided to stay there for a few weeks and live with them, before inviting them back to Richmond. That was a few weeks ago, and we're all happy at Richmond since."

"Richmond sounds like a nice place." Blake states, "I hope you guys are able to help us. You seem strong and if we can get your support, we might just be able to win this war with the Whisperers."

"How'd this war start?" I ask him. "How does a community with hundreds of people get involved in a war with a group of walker people?"

Blake softly chuckles, leaning back in his chair. "Your first mistake is assuming that the Whisperers are just 'some walker people'. They are much more than that. They're a whole community of fierce people who will defend what's theirs with their lives. They're smart, crafty sons of bitches, and they're killers, too. Far from just a group of crazy walker people."

"Right… so how did this begin?"

"We came across them on a hunting trip about two and a half years ago, several of them in their whole walker skin getup. We killed them, thinking they were walkers, and maybe some of them were, but there were some Whisperers in there, that was for certain. The next morning, half a dozen of my people were presented on pikes in front of the Delta, their throats slit and their corpses freshly reanimated. Among them was…" he inhales sharply, breathing a heavy sigh as the look of despair furthens. "My brother. They killed them, left their bodies at our doorstep, and things only got worse ever since. Alpha confronted us shortly after, and set some boundaries to avoid any further incidents, but I couldn't let that go unanswered."

I glance over at Maya, a single tear rolls down her cheek as she looks on at Blake, who returns a sympathetic glance as he continues. "Caden Woodson was one of the strongest men I ever knew. He always joked around that he wanted to be me, being my little brother and all, but I truly looked up to him. He turned down a chance of a lifetime to play college football at the University of Miami, full ride and everything. He turned it down to enlist in the army, just like I had done a few years earlier. He turned down the chance to make millions with an NFL career to serve his country, all to be killed by the Whisperers once the world ended. He made this place possible, and he paid the ultimate price for it. I never forgot our last conversation, it was during a game of poker. It was about baseball, of all things. We hadn't seen a game of baseball in almost six or so years at that point, and yet there we were, talking about our favorite players from the last decade. The next day, he was gone, like that. He deserved better, he really did. He put his life on the line countless times for others, and didn't get anything for it. We could all learn something from people like him."

Lilly consoles her husband as he leans forward, making sure to look Louis, Clem, and I in the eyes. "My brother put his heart and soul into this place, and I don't want to lose it because of these sick fucks. We need help because the Whisperers are relentless and we can't keep up. Our numbers are dwindling, and when we lost eleven out of the twelve people we sent out on that scouting mission a few weeks ago, this situation went from bad to worse."

"Abel, Yonatan, Dorian, Sullene, Michael, Armando, Gina, Gad, Minerva, Dimitri, and Vic." Lilly lists off the names, not looking at us, even though we know she knows we killed them. "Eleven of our best soldiers, gone in a few weeks."

"I almost lost you, too." Blake notes to his wife. "Chloe's gonna need her mother. And if I lost you… no. I can't let that happen."

I run that list through my head. Who did I kill from that list? I technically killed Abel, and Minerva was bitten, but I shot her into the crowd of walkers, so I think I get the credit for that one, too. Dorian was Louis' kill, he told me all about how he accidentally killed her by shooting her in the mouth with a crossbow. Yonatan was the big guy killed by the log trap, so credit Willy with a kill there. Sullene was the woman devoured by walkers on the shore, so no one gets that. Gina must've been the blonde, one of Clem's kills, and I guess she also killed Armando and Michael, some guys on the lower deck of the boat. She also killed Gad, the helmsman, shooting him in the eye with her bow, so she got four kills out of the Delta. Dimitri was the sniper that Benji lit up with a molotov cocktail, according to Abel, so there's one for him. Vic must've been the guy whose throat I cut when I was hiding. So that means Clem killed four, I killed three, Willy, Benji, and Louis all had one each, too. And then there was the one that was killed by walkers. And that's eleven dead Delta troops. Fuck, we did that.

I don't know if I should be proud or ashamed. Of course, I'm glad to still be breathing, but fucking Hell, we hurt this community bad. And we had no idea this whole time. We were just defending ourselves, so can we really be blamed for that? I don't think so, but shit… if we're gonna be working together with them, we might've done more harm than good, here.

"We're gonna help." Dez assures him, taking a swig from his flask, which I learned earlier has whiskey in it. "The people that died to keep this place safe, their deaths won't be in vain."

Blake and Lilly's faces light up at Dez's promise, and Maya's shows some serious hope. Meanwhile, Louis and Kenzie whisper things to each other, getting one another to giggle. I catch his gaze for a quick moment and he hits me with a wink before grinning back towards Kenzie. Maya and I glance at each other and quietly giggle at Louis and Kenzie.

"Do you think Ian's just going to agree to help?" Clem asks Dez.

"He has to, Clem." Dez confidently responds. "There's good people here, and they need our help. We can't just stand around while these people fight for their lives. I can't do that." Dez confidently responds. "He knows this. And that's why he's going to agree."

"Are you sure he will?" Blake asks Dez, hopeful for confirmation, and Dez nods.

"I'll make sure of it."

"Great!" Blake grins as he hugs his wife. "We might just have a chance to win this thing, after all. Thank you all so much."

A sinking feeling in my chest comes. I'm still not completely on board with this, and neither are Louis and Clem. Nonetheless, I smile and nod back to him. Well shit, I guess this is happening.

* * *

_Hours Later, Nighttime_

I can't sleep. This just feels wrong. I've had a few hours to mull this over since dinner, and it keeps bringing me back to the times I'd interacted with Lilly.

She kidnapped my brother, holding him hostage as I was forced to stop shooting at her, else risking hitting Benji with a shot. She dragged my brother away into the night, and I was worried I'd lose him for good. Sure enough, I almost did.

She held James, the ex-Whisperer, and I hostage on the boat, where I saw her kill James in cold blood after pretending to surrender to AJ and Clem, quite literally backstabbing him. If it weren't for a fortunately timed explosion, she might've killed us all, and we wouldn't be here today.

Or the time she tried to take me hostage when we were going to Richmond. Clementine saved my ass by sneaking up on Lilly, and holding her at gunpoint while she held me at knifepoint. I made a promise to her that afternoon, to put a bullet in her head the next time I saw her. Well, now we're allies, I guess. Funny how life works, isn't it?

I roll out of the bed, keeping quiet to not interrupt Louis's light snoring, throwing on a jacket and my boots as I creep downstairs, and out the front door. The chilly morning air hits hard as a heavy breeze strikes my face. I walk over to the nearby riverbank, sitting down and looking up at the night sky. A sigh escapes my lips, thinking about it all as someone sits down next to me.

"Can't sleep?" Maya asks, and I shrug in response.

"Today's just been a really… really weird day." I tell her. "I don't know how much Lilly's told you, but we've got a past."

"I had my suspicions," she admits, "When she said you and your friends blew up the Fitzgerald, it made me wonder. What happened?"

"Lilly tried to kidnap me and my friends, to bring us back here as soldiers for your war. She's killed and maimed my friends, and if we didn't fight back, we'd either be dead, or here fighting with you guys."

"So you guys killed the team that went out a few weeks ago? That was you?"

I nod, even though she can't see me. "Sure was. We didn't have a choice. As far as we knew, it was kill or be killed."

She sighs, "I should've known. When we came across you today, I saw something spark in Lilly. Something I'd never seen before. When she was roughing you up, it should've clicked."

"I've seen Lilly do some terrible things. I've heard things she's done that are just as bad. She's not a good person, Maya."

"Like what happened to that woman, what was her name, Carley?"

"Shot her in cold blood during an argument." I respond. "She was within inches of her life, all because Carley called her out for some bullshit."

"Jesus…" She whispers, "That's what Ian was talking about."

"Exactly." I tell her. "I have a hard time trusting her or the Delta. If she was able to lie to Blake that effectively, it makes me wonder how much she's covered up."

"Do you trust me?" She asks, and I feel all the air in my lungs disappear, like I got sucker punched in the gut.

"I don't know yet. You haven't shot a gun at me yet or tried to kill me, so that's a good start." I remark, and I hear her giggle. "I don't know, it's just that after everything the Delta put us through, and not just Lilly, there's a lot I have to think through."

She stays silent for a moment, before asking me another question, "Did you kill any of them?"

I sharply inhale, thinking back to dinner, when I went through the list of those dead. "Yeah, I did. Abel, Minerva, and Vic, I think his name was."

She sighs once again, a bit of dread appearing in her voice. "Fuck…"

"Were you close with them?" I ask her, actually concerned about all this.

"Abel was like a father figure to me. He was one of the founding members of the Delta, and after my parents died, he… he… took Kenzie and I under his wing. He was our protector, and he did everything he could for us out of the goodness of his heart. He taught us how to shoot, how to hunt, how to defend ourselves, as much as he could."

I eye her curiously, like she was talking about a completely different Abel. In fact, I bet she is. This doesn't sound like the guy that Clem and I tortured until he begged for death, the guy that shot AJ, the guy that helped Lilly kidnap Sophie and Minerva. He sounds like a decent human being, if anything.

"How'd he die?" She asks, "I asked Lilly, but she said that he got separated from the group, so I held out some hope he was still out there."

I shake my head, even though she can't really see it. Should I tell her about torturing him? Can I tell her that? Or is that too fucked up? "I shot him in the head. He was bleeding out, asking for death, and after he gave us the information we wanted, I granted his request." I tell her, conveniently leaving out the whole bit about torture and letting him turn before I shot him. "He couldn't bear the thought of being a walker, so he begged us to put him down."

"Fuck…" She curses, "I guess I'd accepted that he was gone by now, but fuck…"

"I'm sorry." I apologize. "To me, he was just a prisoner, but it never crossed my mind that he would've meant something to other people."

"It's fine…" She murmurs, "I understand. You were doing what has to be done."

"Exactly," I assure her. "I just did what had to be done. He was an enemy, that was it."

"What about Minnie?" She asks, and I grit my teeth, thinking back to that whole ordeal. Fucking Minnie. Of course she and Maya were close.

"Minnie was dying, too. She got bit after we blew up the boat, and she had accepted that she was going to die. I don't know how, but she tracked us down with a herd of walkers, and attacked us. She nearly got my brother killed, but I shot her before she could do anymore damage, and I watched as she was torn to shreds by walkers." I explain to her. "I don't know if she was always like that or she was delirious from being bitten and all, but I don't think I'd ever been more scared of a human being in my life."

"Minnie was my best friend. She and her sister were brought to the Delta a bit more than a year ago, and I don't think she spoke to someone for a week until she met me. I didn't know her sister all that well, but Minnie and I got along pretty well at first. As she got more comfortable with the place, she and I became best friends, and things were pretty great between us. She and Kenzie loved each other, too, and they used to write songs and perform together. Then her sister died, and she hardened up, started lashing out at times. But, she was stressed, and angry. I can't say I entirely blame her."

"I only spoke to her maybe twice, but she was fucking crazy," I say to her. "Maybe the stress and anger of losing the last family you have makes you like that, but she wasn't the way the other kids described her as when they knew her before."

"You said she almost killed your brother," she notes, and I nod in response. "What happened?"

"Sliced his leg open with an axe." I tell her about that night. "We were swarmed by walkers soon after, and we had to climb up a small ridge to escape them. I was able to get up the ridge to safety. Benji… wasn't so lucky. A walker chomped into the exposed part of his foot, but I was fast enough to cut off that part of his leg. He's fortunate to be alive, but he's one tough kid."

"So he's walking around with one foot now?" She asks, and a small smile forms on my face.  
"Oh, no. I forgot to mention he has the power of regeneration." I answer sarcastically, "His foot grew back in about a week. Cool stuff."

"Jackass." I'm met with a slug to the shoulder, and I can't help but snicker. I hear her mutter something before giggling herself. This turns into the both of us getting a quick laugh, before it all dies down.

"So, how does a girl like you wind up fighting for someone like Lilly? You seem totally normal and not like a murderous raider or anything." I ask her, and in the faint morning sun peaking over the horizon, a small frown forms on her face.

"Well, my family joined the Delta about three years ago. They were offering protection and safety and it only made sense to join. Instead of living on the road, we had a place to stay, with strong defenses, medicine, and other people. All that was asked of us was that we helped defend it, in case of an attack. So, I became a soldier for the Delta, and I've been defending it ever since."

"What about Kenzie?" I ask her. "Is she a soldier here, too?"

Shaking her head, she sighs once again. "No. Kenzie's too fragile for all that. She hates the thought of death. She couldn't kill an animal or a walker, much less a human being, even a Whisperer. She hates them just as much as I do, but they scare her so much, I think she couldn't bear the thought of what would happen if they retaliated, you know?"

I nod, "I'm guessing this means you've killed a lot, then?"

"Forty-seven confirmed kills." she grins. "I've been keeping track since my first one."

"You seem to like killing Whisperers." I note, "Did the Delta do that to you?"

She shakes her head again. "The Whisperers brought this upon themselves the day I saw my parents' dead bodies propped up on pikes in front of me."

"That's why you were crying a bit when Blake was talking about his brother. Because your parents were killed, too." I make the connection, and she nods, although she doesn't seem upset, rather adamant and angry, a dangerous combination.

"I vowed to myself to not stop until the person responsible is dead, and even if it kills me, I'm gonna kill Alpha."

"Then it's a good thing she didn't blow off your head with that shotgun earlier." I joke, and she frowns, before a soft chuckle escapes and it turns into a smile.

"Thanks for that, by the way. I really thought that was it for me. You don't stare down the barrel of a gun like that and live to tell the tale very often, especially when you're at war with them."

"Don't mention it." I smile back. "I didn't want to see her kill someone else, and I'm glad she didn't kill you."

Her cheeks redden a bit, smiling at the ground, "I'm glad I'm not dead, either. I like being alive and if something were to happen to me, I don't know if Kenzie'd be able to function out here."

I somberly nod to her, understanding her concerns about her sister. It makes me think about Benji, and how he'd do on his own. Before the bite, I'd have no doubt he could hold his own, but now, I'm not so sure.

The sun slowly peeks above the treeline, creating a bright shimmering effect on the river as daybreak comes. She gets up first, offering me her hand for me to get up, too. I take it, standing up as well as the day begins.

"Sun's up. We're gonna get to work soon." She tells me as she turns toward her house. "I think Lilly's gonna take us hunting later, so you, Louis, and Clem are gonna want to get ready for that."

"Sounds good." I tell her as she and I walk back inside. Time to get ready for the day.

* * *

Lilly impales a walker with her knife, dropping the corpse right in front of her as she leads the four of us deeper into the woods. Maya, Clem, and Louis, and I all join her on the hunting trip. While Lilly and Clem walk up front, talking about the past, Maya, Louis, and I stick back.

"I've got your back if anything happens. I don't think she will but if she does, you've got me." She whispers to me, and I look over at her, giving her a small nod with a just as small smile.

"I don't think she will either, but it's nice knowing you've got my back." I whisper back.

"She better not do anything." Louis mutters, and the two of us glance over at him, and he ignores us, continuing to walk ahead.

"He really does not like us, does he?" She asks, just out of hearing range for him, and I shrug back.

"I'd say Lilly is the top spot on his shit-list right now," I tell her, "I don't know what the Hell happened, but he was roughed up a bit."

She sighs, looking ahead at the others. "I really can't believe what she did. She was so kind to my family when we got to the Delta, but knowing her past now, fuck…"

"Louis'll help out. He might not be happy about it, but he does what he's told." I assure her, looking over to my friend. "He's a good guy, but you just gotta understand he doesn't trust the Delta right now."

"I understand," she confirms, "And he might not trust the Delta, but he definitely has something for my sister. And between you and me, the feeling is mutual."

I raise an eyebrow to her, "Really? Kenzie and Louis?"

She rolls her eyes, "Are you kidding? It's a match made in Heaven. The way they were looking at each other last night, I half-expected them to start making out right there."

"He is bold enough to do something like that." I grin, and she giggles back to me. "I hope it works out for them, seriously. He had a thing for Clem when she first got to the school, but she's been with the same guy for, what, three years now? So yeah, that didn't happen."

Louis hears us talking, and turns back toward us with a glare, his cheeks red, despite his darker skin. I suppose he might've heard us after all.

"What're you guys talking about?" He snaps at us, and the two of us glance at each other, cheeky smiles for both of us.

"Nothing, Louis." I look back at my friend, embarrassed beyond belief and probably pretty annoyed.

She and I look back at each other once more as he turns away from us once again in annoyance, the smiles never left our faces as she gives me a confirming nod.

"So, it was Ben that did it?" Lilly asks Clem sternly from the front of the group, and Clementine nods back, the fury in Lilly's eyes reaches a level I had never seen in her before.

"That little piece of shit…" She growls, "And they thought I was crazy for thinking it was him. The little fuck had guilty written all over him. I knew it…"

"So you also know that you shot a completely innocent woman? Carley?" Clem reminds her, and her demeanor immediately changes. Instead of her fury, her face shows dread and regret, over trying to kill Ian's wife.

"I need to apologize to Ian…" I hear her mumble as the three of us catch up to the two, stopped to continue their conversation. "It won't be enough, I'm sure, but I really tried to kill her. If it weren't for Ian, she would've died that night."

"It's gonna take a lot more than that, but telling him will be a start." Clem tells her. And Lilly nods, somewhat somberly.

"What about the others?" She asks Clem, "Lee, Kenny, Katjaa, Duck, and I guess Carley?"

Clem's face freezes, like she does when she talks about her rough past. Her soft amber eyes look down as she talks about the fates of her old friends. "Lee was bitten when he tried to save me from a kidnapper, and he still managed to save me, even though he was about to die from the infection. He told me to shoot him, so he wouldn't turn, and I did it for him." She takes a breath before continuing, "Kenny was teaching me to drive a car, years after Lee died. He looked after me and AJ and found a working car. I hit a patch of ice or something and swerved off the road, and crashed into a tree. Kenny was thrown through the windshield, and he drew a bunch of walkers near him, and they got him while I tried to get AJ…"

"Oh, Jesus, Clem…" Lilly murmurs, showing sympathy for her. Clem gives a sad smile as she describes the fates of the last three people.

"Duck got bit when the bandits attacked, and Katjaa turned the gun on herself when she was forced to put him down…" Clem says quietly. "And Carley… she was shot through the chest about two years after we ditched you."

"So after all that, it's just me, you, and Ian…" Lilly remarks, almost amazed by it all.

"How'd you make it out there?" Clem asks her, "They left you with nothing out on the side of the road."

"I was lucky, really." She states to Clem, "I went back to the Motor Inn and scavenged what I could. The bandits might've driven us out, but once the walkers caught up to them, they either ran or got killed, because the place was dead. I spent the next few days there, collecting whatever I could that was left, and got ahold of myself before I decided to head North. I spent some time on the road, usually by myself, before I came across a group, Blake's group. They were strong but kind, and they helped me when I needed it the most, even if I didn't really deserve it. I think that Blake's leadership was part of the reason I fell for him so easily."

"And then you guys started the Delta sometime after?" Clem follows up, and with a small chuckle and a nod, Lilly confirms this.

"We sure did. Neither of us had a clue about how to run a settlement, but we made it work through cooperation, strong leadership, and a dash of good luck. This place and its people are important to me, I've told you that. My top priority is having a safe community to live with Blake and raise Chloe, and that's why I've had to do the things I've done. I've hurt a lot of people, but if I didn't, my people are put at that much higher of a risk, and I can't let that happen. The Whisperers have taken a lot from us, and I can't let them take everything."

We all fall silent, not really sure how to respond to Lilly's point. The Delta seems like a good place, and not everyone here is guilty of Lilly's crimes. These people deserve to have safety, and Lilly tried to provide that for them, at the expense of others. She's cruel, but sometimes you need to be cruel if it means you're safe, especially now.

"You're right." Louis concedes, something I would have never expected. "Lilly, you've been responsible for some of my friends dying, you kidnapped some of my other friends, and you've hurt people in ways I never thought people could be hurt. Now, I'm not forgiving you for what you've done, seeing that two of my friends are now disabled in some way for the rest of their lives and others are scarred for life because of the Hell you put them through. I didn't agree with Brett's decision to spare you on the road, but I understand his thinking. You're doing what you have to in order to keep this place going. And these people deserve to be safe, so I'm gonna help defend it. Not because I think you deserve my help, but because your people deserve to be safe from those assholes."

Lilly walks up to Louis, the two meeting eye to eye as Lilly sports a small, yet grateful smile. Sticking out her hand in front of Louis, he looks her dead in the eyes before shaking it.

"I'll take it." She says to him as the five of us get back to our hunting trip. Maya taps me on the shoulder, and I look back at her as she winks back to me, and the both of us silently giggle, reading each others' minds.

* * *

"So, what happened to the rest of your group?" Lilly asks as she kneels down to tie her boots up. "Benji's missing a foot, Violet's eyes are screwed up, and I didn't see Tennessee last time."

I roll my eyes thinking about Tenn. Not what happened to him, it was tragic situation with no real right answer. AJ shooting him to save Louis was probably the better decision overall, but Lilly tormenting the poor boy when he was just trying to save us from her and her people. She tormented him until he was on the verge of tears, and would've killed him herself if AJ didn't intervene.

"Benji got bitten on the foot. I cut it off to save his life." I tell her, and her eyebrows raise, "Violet got caught in the blast, so her face got burnt up and she lost vision in one of her eyes. Tenn, he…" I freeze up, wanting to choose the details carefully, "He didn't make it. He got mauled by walkers going back to the school. He and Minnie both."

"Oh…" is all she can say, and while part of me wants to bark at her, calling her out as to how this was her fault, I once again just clench my jaw. It's not worth it. Not now.

Maya raises her bow, silencing everyone as she focuses on something. She releases it, and a smirk forms on her face moments later. Without a word, she walks deeper into the woods, following her shot. Confused, we all get up to follow her, and by the time we catch up, there she is, standing triumphantly over a buck's corpse, arrow through its eye as it lays there, dead. All she can do is grin as the rest of our jaws drop.

I look back to where we just were, about thirty or so yards away, and she managed to hit a deer right in the eye. I've done that with a rifle, but with a bow? Holy shit…

"Nice shot, Corporal." Lilly smiles to Maya. "This could be enough for a day or so."

From a distance, quiet groans come within earshot. The five of us all turn towards the source, coming from the South. Walkers. Lilly walks toward them, looking out from behind a tree, before turning back to us, eyes wide and her head slowly, mouthing "hide" to the rest of us.

We all scurry around, finding trees and bushes and other places to hide from the herd. It soon arrives, and it's a lot of them. Hundreds of walkers, all walking in the same direction. There's way too many to take on, so I'm forced to stay quiet and watch them slowly stumble past us, each of them letting out that dry, raspy groaning noise that I've grown used to, but could never seem to shake it from my dreams, one way or another.

They slowly shamble past us, a few glancing in our general direction, but none of them doing anything out of the ordinary. As the herd thins out, and all but one or two stragglers remain, Lilly finally breaks from her cover, and all she can do is curse to herself quietly as we all watch the herd get further and further away.

"This is bad, this is really fucking bad." She says to us, pacing back and forth, frustrated and anxious.

"Why? The herd missed us." Clem notes, confused.

Lilly quickly shakes her head. "That herd wasn't meant for us. We have to get back, now."

"What's happening?" Louis asks, concerned.

"That herd is going right for the Delta."

**Wow, this chapter was almost 10,000 words, and a lot happened in those 10,000 words. This was, without a doubt, the longest chapter I've written, and probably the longest I will write for any story. Let me know what you think thus far, cause I'm having a lot of fun crafting this story.**

**Anyways, I start work this week (I'm currently writing this note on Sunday Night, so I'll already be done with a week of work by the time this chapter is up. My work schedule is manageable, but in a few weeks I'm starting summer classes, which will take up some nights, and will probably be the main reason why I won't have time to write. So, if I miss a week, I apologize in advance, but it's all but inevitable.**

**See y'all next week.**


	4. Ashes to Ashes

**Chapter 4 - Ashes to Ashes**

_Richmond, Meeting Place_

_Ian's POV_

"So, how have things been?" Jesus asks me as he pours glasses of wine for all of us, him, myself, Javier, Jason, and Derek and Lyla, a couple from the Hilltop, Jesus' community.

"Things have been… fine." I respond, thinking back to this situation with the Whisperers. "Richmond's been holding up well, but we came across this group the other day. These people that wear walker skins. I don't know what to think about them, but the leader of a nearby community tells me they're vicious animals. They call themselves the Whisperers, ever heard of them?"

He takes a sip from his glass of wine, looking at the red liquid for a moment before looking back up at me. "There's been rumors of these people floating around the Hilltop. Nothing was set in stone, but every now and then, someone wouldn't come back from a hunting trip or a supply run. The others would talk about hearing voices in the woods and whatnot, but I didn't think much of it. I figured this whole Whisperer business was just some talk."

"It's real," Javi responds, also taking a sip of his wine. "There were maybe thirty of them in their group, but there could've been more."

"I see." Jesus notes, looking around at the rest of us, "What else do we know about them?"

"Bugger all, mate." Jason says, "The bastards are mysterious as Hell. We don't know their motives or much anything about them."

"Their leader goes by Alpha," I add, "She's definitely a character. She blew one of her men's heads off with a shotgun for speaking out of line, without any hesitation."

Lyla cringes at the thought of it all, and I see her clutch her boyfriend's hand firmly. He remains calm, however. "Where did you find these people?"

"The Woods a couple miles to the Northeast." I tell him. "Alpha claimed that was her territory, all the way out to the coast."

"That's a lot of land to cover for a group of thirty." He remarks, and the general consensus nods in agreement. "I'd think there'd have to be more of them, somewhere."

"You mentioned something about them using walkers as a resource, Ian." My brother-in-law mentions, and I start slowly nodding as that detail Clem and Lilly told me comes back to me.

"That's right. They use their walker skins to blend in with and direct herds. They stockpile their walkers and send them where they want to go. With their skins, they blend in and can sneak around or do whatever they do."

"And that's why they're seen as such a threat." Jesus comes to the conclusion, "Take a few dozen of them, sprinkled into a herd, and they can do serious damage to a settlement."

"Exactly. Like I said, I don't know how hostile of a group they are, but if what Lilly told me is true, then I want to avoid seeing either of our communities attacked by these animals."

"I'd be ready, just in case." He advises me. "Should the Whisperers attack, you need to be ready and take that head-on. It's not just your life at stake here, it's Kate's, your children's, and the hundreds of others living here, too. You do not want to be caught with your pants down with this much at stake."

"If I get involved, I'm putting people at risk. If I don't get involved, I'm still putting people at risk. There's no right answer." I groan, rubbing my temples. "What do you think?"

"Well, the way I see it, this group hasn't shown any indication they would attack, so long as you keep to yourselves, right?"

I nod, "As far as I know, that's right."

"Perfect," He flashes a soft smile. "Then all you have to do is be prepared. Just be diligent. If they don't attack, then you have nothing to worry about. If they do, you'll be ready."

I don't immediately respond, leaning forward in my chair and looking at the floor in front of me. I lightly chuckle, shaking my head as I refuse to break my gaze with the floorboards. "Christ, Paul. When you said I should take over, I never thought I'd be dealing with anything like this."

"I told you that day, Ian, you're a capable guy. I know this is a lot, but I meant what I said. If I didn't think you could handle it, I wouldn't have suggested you lead."

I slowly nod, looking back up at him. I take a deep breath in, and promptly exhale. "You're right. We'll be ready for an attack. I'll consult with Dez and the people at the Delta and we'll figure out where to go from there."

"Remember, we have an alliance," He reminds me, "If there's an attack, the Hilltop will help you. Our combined forces can deal with them."

"It'll have to." I tell him. "Cause if it can't, I don't know what will."

* * *

_The Delta_

_Brett's POV_

"No, no, no, no, no..." Lilly says as we get closer to the Delta, and the screams and groans coming from the settlement are only quieter than the sounds of gunshots popping off. Without another word or thought, she sprints off towards the Delta, soon coming into view. A hole blown in the main gate, and from what I can see, walkers flooding the streets.

Instead of running after Lilly, the four of us stay back, awestruck at the sight before us.

"The Whisperers, they're here!" Maya exclaims as she immediately runs after Lilly, but I reach out after her, grabbing her jacket and forcing her back.

"What're you doing?" she hisses to me, "They're here! Kenzie's in there!"

"It won't help if you get killed running in there. We need a plan." I say back, releasing my grip on her. "Now, we need to-"

Maya darts off, running toward the Delta, leaving Clem, Louis, and I outside the community, looking on as with each passing moment, more death and destruction comes. "What's the plan, guys?"

A determined look on his face, Louis ignores me, running off towards the Delta in pursuit of Maya and Lilly. "Louis, wait!" I call out to him as Clem follows, leaving me the lone individual standing outside the Delta.

Fucking great. With a sigh, I pull out my M9 with one hand and my knife with the other.

The walkers are absolutely everywhere, and of course, some immediately notice me, stumbling towards me with that same slow stumble as they always do. One reaches out at me before it's promptly met with a gunshot, right between the eyes, the corpse dropping right in front of me. With my left hand, I stick the knife through a walker's eye, puncturing the brain and killing it instantly. With my sidearm, I pop shots into the crowd, and like shooting fish in a barrell, each shot hits a walker skull. As I fire the final shot of the magazine, I eject the mag, ready to load another as one walker starts to rush me, albeit, moving completely like a human.

I ready my knife as the Whisperer approaches me, and I lunge towards him as he gets within range. Despite this, he grabs my wrists, completely overpowering me as my body goes flying to the ground, my knife and gun landing behind me. Before I can get up, he pins me to the ground, stepping on my upper chest and pressing down hard.

I gasp out, desperate for air as he presses down harder, crouching down to look me in the eyes, and I'm met with a cold glare underneath his walker mask as I struggle underneath his weight. He sizes me up for a moment before meeting my eyes once again.

"You're from Richmond…" He quietly growls to me, with the deepest voice I've ever heard. "I knew it…"

Unable to speak, be it from the sheer terror of this man, or the fact his boot inches closer to my trachea, I simply stare back into his eyes, trying my best to get out from under him, but to no avail.

"You will regret helping these people…" He warns me as he stops pressing down on me, skulking back into the approaching crowd of walkers. Finally able to move, I crawl backwards until I reach my sidearm and knife, pulling the fresh magazine from my pocket and loading it in, just as a walker pounces.

My left hand grabs the walker by the throat, keeping it from biting me as I finish loading my M9 with the other, using the side of my body to guide the magazine into the gun. With a click, the gun's loaded, and I put the gun to the walker's mouth, squeezing the trigger once as its brains explode into a dark maroon mess.

I collect myself as more come, drawn to the noise of my struggles as I fire a few more rounds into the crowd, once again dropping several more.

"Brett!" I hear a voice to my right, and across the road, Maya stabs a walker in the head, throwing the walker to the ground as she does the same to another. From further down the road, volleys of automatic rifle fire spray into the crowd, exploding skulls and tearing bits and pieces off the walking corpses as they drop with each round fired. In the chaos, I run over to Maya, narrowly avoiding incoming gunfire as the two of us run into her house.

She slams the door behind us, just in the nick of time, too, as walkers start to pound on the door, but with the click of the lock, and a chair stuck under the doorknob, they're not getting in anytime soon. I finally catch my breath, laying down on the floor and staring up at the ceiling. The only sounds in the room are the walkers banging on the door and my heavy breathing.

"I'm okay… I'm okay…" I whisper, catching my breath, sitting up and getting to my feet. Maya hugs me, and I gladly hug back. "Are the others safe?" I ask her, and I feel her nod against my shoulder.

"Kenzie, Clem, Louis, and some others are upstairs." She murmurs to me. "I couldn't find Lilly, Blake, or Dez in the crowd."

"Shit…" I curse to myself, fearing the worst for the three of them. As our hug fades away, she and I look each other in the eyes, small smile forming on both our faces while we still hold each other in our arms. My insides churn a little in a way I hadn't felt in quite a while. "Are you okay?"

She nods, "I am now."

She leans in toward me, our faces inching closer to each other, and our lips meet, and even as the gunfire and walker groans keep coming from outside, all I can think about is this girl, who I just met yesterday, and yet here we are, kissing each other in the middle of an attack. All I can think about is her.

Our kiss breaks apart, and her hazel eyes meet mine, blissful smiles forming on both our faces. Even with everything raging on outside, I can't help but grin and chuckle, and Maya does the same, although she looks away.

From behind Maya, someone clears their throat, and Maya turns around in surprise. Standing at the stairs, a tall guy, with long, messy blond hair. "Sorry, am I interrupting something?" He sarcastically remarks.

"Oh, Cash!" Maya says, her cheeks reddening as he walks over to us with a cheeky grin on his face.

"There's a whole Whisperer attack going on right now, and you're all out here sucking face and whatnot." He says to her, before turning to me. "I take it you're the other one from Richmond?"

"That's right," I confirm to him. "Brett Sanderson."

"Cassius McQuaid. Call me 'Cash'." He responds. "Louis and Clementine are upstairs, along with Chloe Woodson and a couple other folks from here. How's it look out there?"

"It wasn't pretty." I tell him. "Walkers were everywhere, and I got into a fight with one of the Whisperers, promptly got my ass handed to me, and nearly got devoured in the process."

"Was it the big motherfucker? Tall, beefy, kinda guy you wouldn't have fucked with if the world wasn't gone to shit?"

I nod, "Sounds about right. He threw me around like a ragdoll."

He nods, "That's Alpha's second-in-command. He goes by Beta, of course. I've had a couple run-ins with him in the past. Strong, fast, smart, he's the one that scares me the most."

"Rightfully so. He looked ready to snap me like a twig."

"And he probably could have," He remarks as he walks over to a window, looking outside at the carnage. "God damn…"

The two of us join him, looking at the bodies that litter the ground. Delta soldiers patrol the streets, killing any stragglers, although the groaning is significantly less than before, meaning that the attack is done.

At least I hope so.

Some footsteps come from upstairs, and moments later, Clem and Louis walk downstairs, both of them immediately taking notice. "Brett!"

Clem hugs me, glad to see I'm safe, and I gladly hug my friend back. Louis, holding Chloe in his arms, doesn't hug me, but still looks glad to see me.

"We couldn't see you in the attack, so we feared the worst." Louis explains, "What happened out there?"

"We got separated, because you ran off before we could make a plan." I hiss to him, and he backs up, defensive. "I almost died out there."

"Look, I'm sorry I ran off. I saw everything going on, and I didn't feel right just standing there when people were dying. I did what I felt was right." He justifies to me, and this time, it's my turn to back off.

With a sigh, I concede to my friend. "You're right, you're right. I'm sorry. The stress of it all, I think it's getting to me."

"Well it sounds quiet out there, I think-" Clem's interrupted by the door slamming open, and Lilly storming in, a terrified look on her face as she frantically looks around the crowd, finally seeing Louis holding Chloe.

"Oh, thank God." She says, relieved at the sight of her daughter. She motions for Louis to hand Chloe to her, which he does, causing her to immediately break out in tears, hugging her close. "Thank you for keeping her safe, Cash." Lily says to the boy, who firmly nods back to her.

"Of course, ma'am. How's the situation outside?"

She sighs, "It's diffusing. We've lost at least twenty-six people from the attack, but most of the walkers are either dead or they left with the Whisperers. Blake and Dez are out killing the remaining walkers. Is everyone okay in here?"

Cash nods. "Yeah, we're fine. There's more people upstairs, but they're good, too."

"Who else is up there?" She asks him, and he glances upstairs.

"Giovanni and Sophia DeLuca, Kyle Ramsey, and Julia Calloway, ma'am." Cash tells her. "We got them here when the attack started. I would've tried to get more, but the Whisperers came so fast…"

"You did what you could." She assures him. "Thank you for saving them." Looking upstairs, she frowns. "I saw Vito DeLuca out there… what was left of him, at least. Poor kid didn't stand a chance. I have no clue how to break it to his parents."

The room falls silent as more footsteps come from upstairs, and before I know it, several more people come from downstairs. Kenzie, followed by the four people Cash mentioned. An older couple, both of them with olive skin and black hair. Behind them, two teens, maybe a few years younger than me. A boy, I assume Kyle, with short blond hair, brown eyes behind a thick pair of glasses. The girl, Julia, on the taller side, albeit with some muscle mass, sports a black Baltimore Orioles cap over her long, red, curly hair.

"My son, is he safe?" Mr. DeLuca asks Lilly, and her face goes grim. The DeLucas' faces, a moment prior showing any ounces of hope they had left, go equally grim as that hope is shattered. Their son is dead, and the truth of the matter finally set in.

"I'm sorry, Mr. and Mrs. DeLuca. I saw Vito out there… he didn't make it." She tells the couple, her own voice breaking towards the end as the couple breaks down, especially Mrs. DeLuca.

"Mio figlio!" She wails to her husband, saying more to him in Italian through the tears. Mr. DeLuca stays strong, consoling his wife, although I can see the pain in his eyes. The thought of losing a child, I can't imagine how painful it must be.

Maya nudges me toward the door, giving me a look that implied we should give them some room. I motion for Louis and Clem to join us, and soon enough, the four of us leave, allowing the others to grieve.

As Maya closes the door behind us, she lets out an exasperated sigh. Shaking her head as she looks back at her front door. "So many people I knew, just gone. And it could've been so much worse. Thank you guys, really. I know you guys have a past with Lilly and it was pretty fucked up, but just know that it means a lot that you're helping."

"Of course, Maya." I tell her. "I know I wasn't thrilled about this at first, but Ian made the right call sending us here. You guys deserve to be safe just as much as we do, regardless of the Hell Lilly put us through. We're gonna fight the Whisperers, together." Putting emphasis on the together part, I give her a soft smile.

She blushes back at me, giving me a sweet smile which does not go unnoticed.

Louis, about to say something, is interrupted by Clem. "Let's go find Blake and Dez. We can help kill any walkers left over."

The four of us walk down the streets, dozens of dead corpses littering the streets, be it walkers that were used in the attack, those that were lost in the attack, or the few Whisperers caught in the crossfire. Down the street, laying right on the ground, a young boy, well, what's left of him. His lower half, a pair of legs torn from his body, covered by a pair of jeans, stained red by his own blood and organs. His upper half, feebly crawling away from his lower half, also stained red, mostly from the numerous amounts of bites coming from his neck and face. As we get closer, his quiet raspy moans hit us, and Maya abruptly stops, a quiet gasp coming from her.

"Oh no…" She murmurs, walking up to the walker boy, "Oh my God… No…"

Not saying a word, we all walk up to the boy, slowly crawling around in a desperate attempt to bite us, but he's so weak, all he can really do is flail around. Pulling out my knife, I put an end to his suffering with a single stab to the brain.

"That was Vito DeLuca…" Maya tells us, "He had such a bright smile. Even in this mess of a world, he was always happy and positive. He was only eight years old. He didn't get a chance to enjoy this world before it went to shit."

From behind her, someone coughs, even though the four of us are the only ones around. After glancing around, I see one of the dead bodies move. One of the bodies slowly tries to sit up, and based on the loose-fitting walker skin, it's a Whisperer. Without a moment of hesitation, I walk over to the Whisperer, grabbing her by the throat and forcing her against the side of a house as our eyes meet, our faces only divided by her skin mask.

I draw my sidearm and put it up to her face as she completely submits to me, not saying a word, but also not resisting. "I should kill you right now…" I mutter to her, pointing the barrel of my gun to her temple and tightening the grip on my throat.

She grins at this, "That won't bring the boy back… Or anyone else… Face it, your lives will be consumed by loss and misery. You can't stop this. We will pick you off, one by one, until there is nothing left. Life comes and goes, but death will always win. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

Her body starts to fall limp on me, and I can see why. Three gunshot wounds on her torso, blood oozing out of all three of them. A triumphant smile forms on her face, as I can see through the torn parts of her mask.

"A storm is coming…" She whispers to me, "Try and weather it, it still comes and destroys everything you care about. It's only a matter of time…"

She lets out her final breath, gone for good. Just like with Vito, I stick my knife into her head to keep her from coming back. But, something stops me from walking away. 'A storm is coming.'

"A storm is coming…" I repeat, not sure what to think of that.

"What did she mean by that?" Louis asks.

"I don't know," I tell him, "All I know is, it doesn't sound good."

"You don't think she's talking about them attacking Richmond, do you?" Clem suggests, and it hits all of us that there is a possibility that's what the Whisperer was referring to. Beta knows I'm from Richmond. Did others?

"We need to find Dez and Blake and tell them what's going on." Louis says adamantly.

In agreement, the four of us follow the sounds of the remaining gunfire, towards the entrance of the community. Sure enough, we find the both of them, dealing with the remaining walkers, dispatching them with ease. As Dez finishes off a final walker, we catch up with the adults, who finally close the gates to the community, and the attack is finally over.

"Are you kids okay?" Blake asks us, and we all nod back, being some of the luckier ones. "Good. Where's Lilly?"

"My house, with Chloe, sir." Maya informs him, and he breathes a sigh of relief. "Both of them are safe."

"Thank God. Thank you guys for helping defend this place. I know you were just here to see what the place is like, but you guys still stepped up to help us when we were attacked. You have no clue how much that means to me. When I meet with Ian, I'll be sure to tell him how you stepped up."

"How many did we lose?" Maya asks Blake, and he glances back at Dez, before looking back at us with a frown.

"Thirty-three so far…" He tells us, "But…"

He goes silent, before looking back at Dez once again. Dez rolls down his sleeve, and gasps erupt from the four of us.

He's bitten. Right on the wrist. Despite this, he keeps it cool, not panicking, even though he's hours away from death. In fact, he seems relatively comfortable, all things considered.

"We could cut it off." Louis suggests, and Clem nods in agreement. "It worked for Benji, why not Dez?"

Dez shoots this down by simply shaking his head. "And what, bleed out and die anyways? What's the point?"

"So you're just going to give up? What about Ian and Richmond? What about the Delta?" Louis asks further, and Dez warmly smiles back at him, oddly enough.

"When I enlisted with the Army, I was ready to give my life for something greater than myself. It's no different here. We're at war with another group, and I went into this ready to give my life for a greater good. This greater good was a potential alliance between Richmond and the Delta. Ian would understand." He explains to us, and it actually kinda makes sense. I may not agree with him willingly succumbing to the bite, but his reasoning makes enough sense that I won't fight him on it.

"So, what're you going to do?" Clem asks him. "You're dying. Should we go back to Richmond so you can say your goodbyes?"

He shakes his head once again. "I doubt I'll make it to Richmond. What I plan to do is kill off this whiskey and enjoy my final cigar, and when the time comes, that'll be that."

He says his final plans in a way so nonchalantly, that it feels more like he's planning a regular afternoon, not his last day alive. With how cool and collected he is, you'd have no idea unless you saw the bite.

With that, the six of us walk back to Maya's house, where we see the DeLuca family slowly walking out, accompanied by the boy Kyle and the girl Julia. They walk right past us, not saying a single word as they go on down the street. Lilly and Kenzie walk out to see us, followed by Cash. Lilly immediately notices Dez's bite, but she doesn't prod further, accepting that he knew he was gone.

The time slowly ticks on, and the overwhelming sense of dread grows that much more as the timer on Dez's life slowly counts down. How long he has, we don't know, but judging by how he looks, he doesn't have long. He slowly walks outside, stepping down the steps in front of Lilly and Blake's house, and just sits down, looking at the community in front of him. Cigar in one hand, lighter in the other, he sparks it, putting it in his mouth before pocketing the lighter, and replacing it with his flask.

I sit down next to him. "So, this is it. End of the line."

"Guess so." He coughs as he takes another puff of his cigar. "It's funny, I always figured I'd die out on the battlefield. I guess I kinda did, didn't I?"

"This world has become one giant battlefield." I say to him, "So, I guess you could say that."

"I was able to serve a higher purpose. I'm one man, and an alliance between Richmond and the Delta is worth well more than that. This is a great opportunity for both communities. Ian will see that. You guys'll win, too. I know it."

I can't say anything back. I just don't know what to say. What is there to say? Exactly, there really isn't anything.

"I have one single regret in life." He remarks, putting down his cigar before taking a swig of whiskey. "I never got married. I had a fiancée, Sidney. I proposed about three months before the world ended, and I bought a pack of these cigars for me and my groomsmen when I got married. Sidney didn't make it a day before she was bitten. I'd lost friends in war, seeing limbs get blown off or bullets going through their skulls, but all that was nothing compared to losing her."

I nod sympathetically, knowing the feeling all too well after losing Brody.

"I saw the way you and Maya were looking at each other at dinner last night. Louis and Kenzie were obviously falling for each other, and maybe I was just seeing things, but I can tell the two of you have a thing for each other."

I softly chuckle, slowly nodding as he hits it on the head. "I have no clue how to describe it, but I think there's something. She and I kissed earlier today, and it felt right."

"Knew it." He chuckles as well, downing the last of his whiskey, and dropping the flask at his feet. "Love is a beautiful thing, Brett. Don't let it go to waste. We'll all be gone before we know it ."

"You got it, Dez." I smile to the man, and he looks over at me, giving one last bit of advice.

"You're a strong kid. Ian told me about some of your past, some of the shit you've been through, and I don't envy you for a minute. Ian likes you a lot, and he sees a lot of potential in you as a leader. Keep pushing forward, and life will reward you for it."

"Really? You think so?"

"I know so. He told me himself."

"No kidding…"

He doesn't respond, instead violently coughing away from me, before collapsing backwards onto the stairs. A soft groan escapes from his lips, his eyes slowly fading away, and just like that, he's gone.

I've had to do this too many times today, but I pull out my knife, and I stick it into the back of his skull. I drag his body out in front of the house, laying the corpse down on the grass, and I walk back inside.

Later that evening, we buried Dez in front of the house. No one said a word. No one could say anything that would do him justice. Desmond Lawton died a hero for the Delta, a community he only knew about for a day. I wasn't sure about it at first, but Dez was willing to die for these people, so I'm on board.

I'm ready to fight for the Delta, and I'll kill every Whisperer I can find. They'll regret attacking the Delta, I'll make sure of that.

**Sorry I missed last week. Work was absolutely exhausting, and I didn't have much energy to write this chapter. I'll try to do one chapter a week, but for the next few weeks, work's gonna be rough and I'll need to focus on that first. Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed. Reviews would be greatly appreciated. See you guys (hopefully) next week.**


	5. Aftermath

**Chapter 5 - Aftermath**

_The Next Day_

Waking up the day after an attack has got to be one of the weirdest feelings ever. It's a new day, but the damage done yesterday still burns fresh in your mind, and all you can think about is the carnage of the day prior. That boy, Vito, stuck with me the most. Seeing the upper half of his body crawling away from his lower half gave me the chills, and they haven't gone away.

When I say this place is dead silent, I mean it is DEAD silent. The kinda silent where all I can hear is my footsteps and my thoughts when I walk down the streets. The final death toll was thirty-seven. Three more people succumbed to their wounds after Dez died, two bites and a stab wound. We don't know how many Whisperers came in, and we don't know how many died, but we do know that their losses were significantly less than ours.

I want to change that. I want to be out on the front lines, fighting for my people. I want to be out there, killing the people that pose a threat to Richmond and the Delta. I don't want to stop until the Whisperers are nothing more than a bad memory.

I still don't know what exactly that Whisperer meant when she said 'A storm is coming'. I know it wasn't good, but there's a lot of things in this world that aren't good. Incidentally, there's a lot of things they can do to us that wouldn't be good. Case in point, the attack that happened yesterday. Maybe that's what they have in mind for Richmond, maybe not. Maybe they aren't even going to attack Richmond. God, I really hope that's the case.

I don't think any of us slept last night. How could we? Every time I closed my eyes, I could only see the carnage and destruction the Whisperers brought to this community. So instead, I laid in bed, staring up at the pitch darkness, thinking about everything that happened over the last two days. From getting held up by Lilly, to finding the Whisperers, to going to the Delta, to getting attacked by the Whisperers, it's hard to believe it's only been two days. And it's only just begun.

Another thing that's fresh in my mind is the kiss Maya and I had when we were in her house. I don't know if that was the heat of the moment, or if there was something more here. I kinda hope this wasn't heat of the moment. I had that feeling in my chest again that I hadn't felt in a long time. It might've been that night when Brody and I met, the two of us talking and then inadvertently confessing we had feelings for each other, ending that night with our first kiss. I still think about that night a lot. It feels like forever ago, but it's only been about five weeks since Marlon took her from me. That's an image I'll never be able to erase from my mind, seeing her face bashed in.

That son of a bitch, Marlon. That two-faced, rotten motherfucker. I would've wanted him dead for what he did to the twins, even if he didn't kill Brody. A leader like him that willingly gave away his own people to save his own ass doesn't deserve to live, especially because of the bloodshed that followed. I never even got to know Sophie, and I spent as much time fighting Minerva as I did talk to her, and yet the two of them are dead now, all because Marlon was a coward. Fuck him. If only I had the chance to kill him myself, to avenge Brody, to keep us all safe. A shot to the head from AJ was too merciful, too easy for him.

Down the street, Lilly flags me down, while she converses with another grieving couple. A lot of kids were buried since yesterday, a lot of families lost children, and these two were no different. As I finally reach her, I hear the end of their conversation, and through the mother's tears, I hear the name Abigail. That must've been their daughter's name. My heart sinks as I give the couple a sympathetic look.

"Pack your things," Lilly whispers to me, "I'm bringing you guys back to Richmond in a few hours."

Confused, I glance back at her, "Why? I thought we had another day here."

She shakes her head, "It's too dangerous. I'm bringing you guys back today, and then I'm explaining the situation to Ian. I've lost one of you already, and I've got Hell to pay for it. If I lose more of you, then this community is as good as dead. We're relying on Ian and his people to provide support, and if you kids don't make it back, safe and sound, then we're not gonna get that help."

Understanding, I nod to her, walking back to Maya's house, before I hear Lilly's voice one more time. "Hey, Brett?

I turn back to her as she catches up to me. "Thank you. Thank you for helping us. I did some unspeakable things to you and your friends, and I don't deserve your forgiveness. I hope you understand that it wasn't personal in the slightest bit. And I owe you an apology for what I did."

"You owe me a whole lot more than an apology." I tell her, "But I'm willing to put our past aside, for the time being. We've got a bigger issue here, and frankly, I'm more concerned with stopping the Whisperers than I am getting payback against you."

"Glad to know we're on the same page." She tells me as she offers her hand. Without a second thought, I shake it. That was definitely not something I'd have thought I'd ever do a month ago, but I guess things can change pretty quickly.

* * *

Our bags packed, Louis, Clem, and I all head over to the van, parked in front of Lilly and Blake's house. Lilly explained the situation to the rest of us when we got back, and we got packing immediately. Less than an hour later, here we are.

Blake, Maya, and Kenzie are here to send us on our way, too. It's nice that we get to say goodbye before we go back. In Blake's arms, Chloe sits, although she's dead asleep. At least someone is able to sleep right now.

As I drop my bag in the minivan, I turn back to Maya, and she immediately surprises me by hugging me.

I ease into the hug as well, neither of us breaking away. I glance over at Louis, and he and Kenzie are doing the same. I wink to him, and even with his dark skin, I can see a small blush forming, which he tries to hide, with little success. I give him a wink as my attention shifts back to Maya, our hug slowly fading away as we take a chance to look each other in the eyes. My browns meet her hazels, and I can feel my own cheeks reddening as we still hold each other in our arms.

"You know, you could come along." Lilly suggests to the girls, "I'm sure Brett and Louis wouldn't mind the company."

Kenzie's face is practically glowing at this point, causing her sister to giggle a bit as neither girl says anything, but Kenzie makes sure to hug Louis once again in an even tighter squeeze. Maya hasn't let go since, causing Lilly to laugh out loud.

"I guess that answers it."

The six of us pack into the van, Louis and Kenzie in the back row, Maya and I in the middle, and Clem in shotgun while Lilly drives. As she drives away, I take one last look at the Delta, slowly disappearing over the horizon, before turning back ahead. Maya rests her head on my shoulder, and I softly smile, putting my arm around her as I feel myself start to fall asleep. Somehow, even with the danger all around us, being with Maya just makes me feel comfortable. I take one glance back at Louis and Kenzie, and sure enough, the two of them are just like Maya and I, albeit both of them already asleep. As Maya snuggles into me, I lean back into my seat and let the car ride do its thing.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"I miss Clem." AJ mumbles to me as the two of us watch Chandler and Kate playing in front of our house. "Will she be back soon?"

"Tomorrow, AJ." I tell the boy. "She'll be back sometime tomorrow."

"Why are we helping Lilly? She's a monster. We kill monsters, not help them."

"I know, and usually you're exactly right. But, part of being an adult is making tough decisions like these for the greater good. Lilly and I have a history, you and Clem have a history with her, but all that doesn't matter right now. Keeping everyone here safe is my top priority, especially you, Clem, Kate, Chandler, and our daughter."

"What about Louis and Violet and Brett and Benji? And everyone else?" He asks, and I nod to the boy with a wide smile.

"Everyone. As long as I'm in charge here, I'll do whatever it takes to keep everyone safe."

"Good." He grins, "I feel safe here."

I chuckle lightly, running my hand through the boy's afro. "I'm glad you feel that way. I try my best to keep it this way, and I like where this place is going."

"I want to be like you when I'm big. You're strong, smart, and nice. Like Clem. I want to be like you guys."

I blush at the boy's compliment. "That's very nice of you, AJ. I think you're going to be a better man than I could ever be, I can see it."

His eyes spark up, "Really?"

I nod back to him with a warm smile. "Definitely. You're the bravest boy I know. You've grown up in a scary world, and yet you're still braver than most people. That says a lot. You remind me a lot of your dad in that way."

His bright expression fades away, leaving a more upset look on his face. "I never got to know my dad…"

It hits me that Alvin died days before AJ was born. He sacrificed himself at Howe's so that we could escape. He hasn't really had a father figure in his life since… Kenny?

"Your dad was a good guy. He saved my sister when the outbreak started. He didn't know her, he just did it because he was a good person. I owe a lot to him, and it's a shame he didn't get to meet you."

He perks up a little bit, and a small smirk forms on his lips. "I'm gonna be like my dad, helping people who need it. I'm gonna do something that would make him proud of me!"

"That's the spirit!" I tell him, and he proudly jumps up from the step we sit on, running over to play with Kate and Chandler. While AJ and Chandler occupy each other, Kate sneaks over to sit down next to me, rubbing her pregnancy bump as she relaxes.

"That boy has too much energy." She says, leaning into me and resting her head on my shoulder. "Who knew it could be so much work to be the fun parent for once?"

"Being the fun parent takes a lot. It's not for everyone." I tell her, popping the collar on my flannel as I'm met with a playful shove from my wife.

"Imagine what this'll be like when we have another kid in a few weeks." She remarks, looking out at the boys playing with chalk on the sidewalk, "Chandler's going to have a little sister, and we can kiss goodbye any hopes of getting any sleep for a while."

"And we're going to be the best parents in the world. That's why we rebelled against The New Frontier, wasn't it? To give the kids a better future?"

She smiles sweetly, reminiscing about the uprising in this very city three years ago, "You're right. I think you said exactly that about it, too."

"I recall you professing your love to me shortly after, as well." I tease her, causing her to giggle.

"And I recall you letting me think I made a mistake before kissing me."

"No mistakes here, darling." I tell her, cupping her cheek as the two of us lean in for a quick kiss, although it's interrupted by the static and a beep coming from my radio.

"_Ian? You there?_" I hear Fern's voice come through on my end. With a groan and a quiet curse to myself, I pick it up.

"Yeah, what's going on?"

"_The people from the Delta are back. I thought they weren't supposed to be back until tomorrow._"

"They're not. I'll be on my way. Two minutes."

"_Roger that._"

"Lilly's back already?" My wife asks, "What's going on?"

I shrug to her, "I guess I'll find out. Keep a close eye on the kids. If things head South, get them inside and barricade the door."

"Stay safe." She tells me, blowing a kiss to me. I return the favor as I start jogging down the street to the front gate.

* * *

Fern raises the gates, and the van pulls up right beside me, and I can see Lilly in the driver's seat. In shotgun, Clem?

Where's Dez?

Lilly rolls down the window, and soon enough, we're face to face. Glancing into the back, Brett and the girl, Maya, and even further back, Louis and another girl. Dez is nowhere to be seen.

"You're early." I tell her as she sighs, "What happened? Where's Dez?"

"There was an attack. The Whisperers sent a herd to the Delta. Dez didn't make it. I'm sorry."

It should have been blatantly obvious to me. The three kids were in there, safe and sound, but no Dez. Maybe it was, and I didn't want to realize it.

"I knew this was a bad idea! I knew it! And now, Dez is dead! God damn it!" I hiss, trying to avoid raising my voice.

"Dez died protecting my people," Lilly reasons, "If he wasn't there, we could've lost way more than we did. He was a hero, Ian."

"Dez wanted this." Brett chimes in, "He told me he was more than happy to lay down his life to keep the Delta safe. He told me that as he was dying right next to me. He wanted to help, and he did."

"He's fucking gone…" I murmur, "Dez is gone. I can't believe it. Those animals killed him. Son of a bitch…"

"Dez died a hero. He and the kids defended my home when we were attacked, and without them, we'd be dead."

"What do you need from me?" I ask her quietly, "If we're gonna hunt these animals down, what do we need?"

"Soldiers, weapons, ammo, the whole nine yards." She tells me, "We lost dozens in the attack, and our numbers are dwindling. We're desperate for help."

I look over at Clem and Brett, who both stare back at me, and even though a thousand things are running through my mind. The answer is clear. I have to help her. There's no other choice here.

I nod down the street, "Let the kids out, and we can talk about how we're going to get this done. I've got a friend from another community in town that might just be willing to help us."

One by one, the five kids in the van step out onto the street. "Brett, Clem, Louis, while Lilly and I talk, why don't you show Maya and… erm…" I turn to the other girl, the brunette with freckles that was sleeping on Louis when they got here.

"Kenzie, sir." She respectably introduces herself, and I nod back to her.

"Right. Why don't you guys show Maya and Kenzie around?"

"Sure thing, Ian." Louis confirms, and the two visiting girls beam in excitement. The group of five walk off, leaving Lilly and myself.

"Those boys are a couple of casanovas." She remarks as we watch the five kids walk down the street. Confused, I look back at her, but she just smiles. "Those girls are all over them. I would've never guessed Maya would fall for a guy like Brett."

"Huh, what about Louis and Kenzie?"

"Oh, they were head over heels for each other the moment they met, from what I heard. A couple of folks in town told me he sang along to one of her songs and charmed his way right into her heart. I'd say if love at first sight was a thing, it was right there."

"It's funny, I was only a year or two older than them when I met Carley," I tell her, "I guess love has a funny way of working, doesn't it?"

"Speaking of, Clem told me what happened." The tone of the conversation completely changes, as though some storm clouds floated in over a bright, sunny day, "I wanted to apologize. I know I didn't kill her, but at that moment I had the full intention of doing so. I was just seeing red and with everything that had happened, I really thought she betrayed us. She meant the world to you and I tried to take her from you over a baseless accusation."

"You were right. It was Ben. He 'fessed up a few hours after we ditched you." I look up at the sky, and some actual storm clouds start rolling in. The two of us start walking down the street as a small rumble of thunder claps overhead. "Maybe both sides could've handled that a bit better."

"Do you still hold that against me? I wouldn't blame you if you did. Hell, I'd hold it against me." She says to me, and I'm taken aback by it, a little. Lilly's showing serious remorse for what she did, and she caught me a little off-guard.

"I mean, a little bit." I confess to her, "It's hard to forget something like that. But, knowing that she pulled through and everything, it's not a serious concern of mine. Just… don't shoot Kate, please, alright? I've seen her get shot once already and that was enough for me."

"I won't. You have my word."

"One's word doesn't mean much nowadays. You know this just as well as I do. I trust you, but don't make me regret it." I reach for my radio, "Jason, are you still with Jesus?"

"_Yes, sir._" My friend's British accent comes through on the other end.

"Come to the meeting place with him, ASAP. We've got some developments to our situation, and it's not pretty."

"_Is everything alright?_"

"Just come to the meeting place, I'll explain everything."

"_Roger that._"

* * *

_Brett's POV_

"This is a nice place." Maya remarks as we walk down the street. "It's nice and relaxing here, like how things used to be. Everything at the Delta is so tense and stressful, like we always have to be alert. Not here, though. It's a wonderfully ordinary city. I like this."

"Ian's done a really good job here," Clem tells her, "The old group that ran this place were a bunch of assholes, but that didn't last. He had a lot to deal with when he came into power, but he handled it well, and this place is thriving."

As we get towards Javi's house, the door opens up, and two familiar faces step out, Javi and Gabe.

"Gabe!" Clem yells out, running well ahead of us to hug her boyfriend as the Garcias both grin in surprise.

"I thought you weren't back for another day?" Gabe questions her as the two peck on the lips, but Clem simply shakes her head.

"We came back early." She tells him as the couple kisses once again.

"So, you two are new," Javi says to Maya and Kenzie, "Javier Garcia, Head of Security."

"I'm Maya Morin, and this is my sister McKenzie." Maya introduces the two of them. "We're from the Delta."

"I see. How are things over there?"

Both sisters look at each other with a less than ideal expression as Maya turns back to Javi. "Honestly, not good. There was another Whisperer attack yesterday. We lost thirty-seven. That's almost sixty in the last month. We're losing way too many people and they're picking us off like it's nothing."

"We're gonna get them. They're gonna pay for what they've done." I assure her, getting a small smile and a nod from her.

"Damn right we are." Louis agrees, and Kenzie grins widely, even despite her hatred for violence.

"Well, Ian needs me for something, so I've gotta go." Javi announces to the rest of us, "Brett, Louis, you boys stay out of trouble, alright?"

"Me, cause trouble? When have I ever caused trouble?" Louis says, defensively, and Javi can't help but crack a small smile, shaking his head before walking down the street.

"We'll catch you guys later, I've got to go see AJ." Clem tells the rest of us as she and Gabe head over to Ian's house. Louis takes point, leading us down the street toward our apartment.

As we reach the apartment building, Louis lets us in, and leads us down the hallway to our apartment.

"So, this is where Brett and I live." Louis tells the girls, "Brett's brother, Benji, lives with us, too. You'll like him." He opens the door to our apartment, and immediately freezes.

Maya and Kenzie cover their mouths to avoid making any sound asI maneuver my way to the front of the group, and I can see why there was such a reaction, my jaw dropping, just like Louis.

Benji's laying on the couch, buck-ass naked, with a girl, just as naked, and they're… uh… um…

I glance back at Louis, who stares back at me, when I hear my brother's voice from behind me. "What the fuck?"

The girl shrieks as she grabs a blanket to cover herself and Benji, before she turns to my brother. "Benji! I thought your brother wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow!" She whines to my brother.

"I thought so, too. What the Hell, guys?" He says with hostility, causing Louis and I to glance at each other again, before, out of nowhere, Louis starts laughing, and I can't help but join in.

"Oh, this is like something out of a fucking sitcom!" He exclaims, laughing the entire way. My brother and the girl, both mortified, stare back at us in embarrassment.

"We'll uh… we'll come back later…" I say to the two of them, sheepishly, "Sorry about that."

The four of us hurry out of the apartment, Louis' laughter finally dying down as we shut the door behind us. Maya and Kenzie, at first totally shocked, seemed to have lightened up a bit, too. Me? I just walked in on my little brother having sex. You can assume how I'm feeling.

"So… that was something." Maya remarks, and the rest of us nod in agreement.

"Indeed, it was." I agree. "Well, while those two lovebirds do whatever they're gonna do, we can find something else to do in the meantime before you really get to meet Benji."

A door opens from behind us, and I hear a 'humph' from the person exiting their apartment. "You're back early. How was the Delta?" Violet snarls to us, sarcastically.

"Hey, Vi." Louis greets her uneasily, and I turn around as she and I see each other, eye-to-eye, albeit, she only has one good eye left, after the boat explosion. The burns have healed a bit, but the damage is permanent, she's gonna be blind in that eye for the rest of her life.

"How could you? After all they did, you still went to help them! They hurt us, in so many ways, what the Hell, guys?" She barks at us.

"We didn't have a choice!" I tell her, "We had to help them, or else this place is in trouble, too!"

"Bullshit you didn't have a choice!" She fires back, "There's always a choice. You decided to go help them, because some fucking creeps in the woods scared you. You helped out our enemies, and for that, I have nothing to say to either of you."

She storms off, as Louis calls out to her, "Vi! C'mon!"

She doesn't look back, giving Louis and I the middle finger as she walks out the door.

"Well, that's Violet. She's got a bit of a grudge against the Delta after… you know." I tell the sisters, and Kenzie looks back at me, confused.

"What do you mean? What happened?"

I remember that Kenzie doesn't know about the events of three weeks ago, only her sister. I glance toward Maya and Louis, who both look at each other, and back at me, but no one says anything, prompting Kenzie to ask again.

"Guys. What happened?"

"I'll explain later, Kenzie." Her sister assures her, but that's not good enough for Kenzie.

"Well, Jesus Christ, Maya, can you tell me what happened?" Maya's sister asks once again.

"I said later, Kenz." Maya softly says to her sister, with a stern implication.

A door down the hall opens, and a head pokes out. His face brightens up, revealing a big, toothy grin with a wide gap right between his two front teeth.

"Holy crap! You're back!" Willy exclaims as he runs out to hug us. "Who are they?"

"These are Maya and Kenzie, Willy. They're from—"

"The Delta?" Willy finishes my sentence for me, "Benji told the rest of us that you guys and Clem went there. What happened?"

"A lot of crazy shit, Willy. You've got no idea."

Willy motions for us to follow him back to his apartment, and the delicate aromas that hit our noses as we step into the apartment can only mean one thing. Omar, hard at work with a pot over a flame, mixes a variety of spices, meat, and vegetables in a thick broth, making a soup that probably tastes just as good as it smells.

"Welcome back, guys!" He warmly greets us, "Glad to see you're not dead. When Benji told us you were going to the Delta, we weren't sure we'd see you again."

"Turns out the Delta isn't as bad as we thought. In fact, there were actually some really good things." I tell him, turning to Maya with a small smile. She blushes and reciprocates the smile, which doesn't go unnoticed by anyone else in the room. Even Rosie, the bulldog that's been with the Ericson crew all this time, looks over at me while Willy and Louis pet her.

"A match made in Heaven, eh?" Louis remarks, quoting Maya when we went hunting. My cheeks start reddening, just like hers.

Omar and Willy look on in absolute confusion, but Willy seems more intrigued than Omar, almost ready to egg it on.

"Ooooooooh! Maya's got a crush!" Kenzie taunts her sister, as Maya immediately snaps back.

"Look who's talking! You and Louis are totally into each other!"

It's Louis and Kenzie's turn to blush, as Omar finally steps in, with a cool and soothing voice, he defuses the situation rather quickly, "Calm down, guys. It's not a big deal. You're acting like middle schoolers."

We all cool down as we come to the rationalization that he's right, and the tensions go away like they never existed.

"So, Louis and Kenzie, Brett and Maya." Willy says, trying to put it all together. Unsure of how to really react, we all just shrug. It's no secret anymore that Maya and I like each other. Are we really a couple yet, I'm not sure, but it sure feels like it's coming.

"Brett, are you sure about rushing into this? You know, it's only been about six weeks…"

"It's fine, Omar." I tell him, despite his advice.

"What was six weeks ago?" Maya asks, and the room goes silent. "Brett?"

"His girlfriend was killed." Willy informs her somberly, much to her surprise. "Her name was Brody, and she was really close with the rest of our group."

"She was taken from me, but it's been six weeks. I can't keep mulling on it. I've gotta be able to let go." I say quietly, once again having to think back to that night. I look over at her, and I can tell there are some mixed emotions inside her right now.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea." She says to me softly, but I wave off her sympathy. There's no way she could have known. I didn't mention her at all.

"It's fine. I've moved on." That's a half-truth. I have moved on, for the most part. I'm mostly over what happened. Marlon got what was coming, and I've found someone new, hopefully. It still feels raw, but I can't feel sorry for myself forever. There's a point where I have to let go and allow myself to move forward. If I can't, then I'll just be weak, like someone else. Not me. I can't let Brody's death eat me alive my entire life.

She continues to look at me, and I can't help but wonder why. She doesn't say anything, just staring as she gives me a small smile before looking away. Weird. Kinda weird.

"So, when am I gonna learn about what happened between you guys and the Delta?" Kenzie impatiently asks, and Maya rolls her eyes.

Louis finally concedes, chuckling as he helps himself to some of Omar's soup. He pulls out a chair for Kenzie to sit in, motioning for her to sit. "You're gonna want to sit down. It's a long story, and a lot of it isn't pretty, but it's the truth, and nothing but."

* * *

"There, Richmond. They helped defend the Delta."

"I knew they would. They thought they could deceive me when we crossed paths. It was bold of them to think they could fool me that easily."

"What of the boy?"

"Keep him alive. I would like to send a message."

"Are you sure? If we keep him alive, couldn't that just embolden them? Shouldn't we send a stronger message?"

"Are you questioning an order, Beta?"

"No, Alpha. I'll keep him alive."

"Very good."

"What will this message entail?"

"We shall make sure they know suffering beyond their darkest fears. I have plans for them."

**Hey, I'm not dead. So, it's been about a month since the last chapter. It might've seemed like I gave up on this story, but I haven't. Frankly, I just had a lot on my plate. Work was eating me alive, and then my summer classes have also kicked into full swing, and I just got hit by writer's block that kinda slowed me down for the past few weeks. This story is not cancelled or anything, but the pacing is not gonna be once a week. Anyways, I'll see you when I see you.**


	6. The Calm Before

**Chapter 6 - The Calm Before**

Kenzie's face was nothing short of pure shock and horror as Louis told her what happened. He turned to Omar and I for some details that he didn't see, like what happened before we infiltrated the boat and the whole James situation. It all seemed like a little too much for her, and despite us offering to stop at numerous points, she demanded that we tell her everything, so that we did. Even at Maya's request we stop, Kenzie waved her off, insisting we keep going.

By the time it was all out in the open, every detail from Marlon's betrayal to Minnie's demise, Kenzie looked broken. Her entire world, thrown for a loop. The atrocities her people committed all being brought into the light, all that happening right under Blake's nose. He was clueless at the fact Lilly was doing this.

We had to explain to her that despite our past, Lilly was willing to work with us, and we were willing to set aside this past. Willy wasn't a fan, but Omar understood. I'm not really sure how Kenzie feels about it all. I'm not really sure how I'd feel about this if I were in her position, if I'm being honest.

The news she took hardest was Abel's demise. Like with her sister, I had to leave out the part where Clem and I made his last moments a living Hell, but she expressed that she was close with Abel, much like her sister. Apparently, he was a pretty decent guy behind the scenes, so that made me feel bad when I had to tell her that I killed him. Thankfully, like her sister, she was understanding, and didn't hold it against me.

Louis told her about Dorian, which surprised her. She didn't think he was a killer, and frankly, I don't blame her. Louis isn't a killer. The only person I know of that he killed was Dorian, and even that was an accident that he showed remorse for.

"So, that's what happened…" Her voice is on the verge of breaking, as Louis and Maya console her. "Lilly did this to you? All for our war?"

"She did. But that doesn't matter right now." I assure her. "We're putting that aside for now, because we need to focus on the Whisperers."

"How?" She asks, "How do you just put that aside? The killing, the torture, everything?"

"Well, the alternative is letting the Whisperers burn your community to the ground. Louis and I can't let that happen to you guys, so that's why we're putting our past aside. We're gonna fight them, and we're gonna win."

"He's exactly right," Louis adds, "We're gonna take out the Whisperers, so that it's safer for all of us. Richmond, the Delta, the Hilltop, everywhere. We have to do this, so that's exactly what we're gonna do."

She gives him a teary-eyed smile, before the two hug. She pulls away for a second, before moving in for the kiss, surprising all of us, including Louis, I think. The kiss fades away, and Louis, his cheeks totally red, grins and chuckles a bit, as the two teens lustfully look into each other's eyes.

"Told you." Maya smirks to me, and I can't help but chuckle myself as Louis and Kenzie keep going with the lovey-dovey shit. Omar seems more preoccupied with the soup, and Willy seems to be more focused on Rosie, so that leaves Maya and I to focus on each other.

"You wanna get out of here? I'll show you around town a bit more."

She nods at my offer, and the two of us get up to leave, taking one last chance to look back at Louis and Kenzie, already looking like a couple that's been together for years.

"It's gonna work out for them. I can tell." She whispers to me, and all I can do is nod in agreement. I hope it does. The two of them deserve it.

* * *

"So, what exactly are we?" I ask her as we exit the building. She blushes lightly at the question, before looking off down the street. She goes silent for a longer moment, and the sinking feeling returns to my stomach, as though our kiss really was heat of the moment.

"I'm not really sure," She confesses, "I know we've only known each other for a few days, but I like to think we're… something more… I mean, I hope we're something more than just friends. When we kissed back at the Delta, it felt like something more, you know?"

"So what're you thinking?" I follow up, and she gives me a coy smile. A similar one forces its way onto my face as she puts a hand on the back of my head, guiding me in for a kiss.

The smiles remain as we each pull away, reluctantly albeit. She takes my hand into hers, and she leads me down the street. That says plenty to me.

"Hey, Brett!" A booming voice calls out from across the street, and I turn to see Conrad waving me down. I turn to Maya, nodding towards him as the two of us cross over to meet him. "How've you been, kid?"

"Aside from almost dying yesterday, I'd say things have been pretty damn good." I grin to him as Maya squeezes my hand. "This is Maya. She's from the Delta and, well…"

"Young love." He softly smiles, "I remember when Francine and I fell for each other. We were just a couple of kids ourselves, not much older than you guys. Those were the days…"

I give him a sympathetic smile. He told me and Benji what happened to his wife a few years ago, murdered by some members of the old regime from Richmond, and how he held a grudge against Javier for a little bit because of what happened. And yet, years later, no hard feelings. Conrad gets back to what he's working on, sharpening a short blade against a stone.

"How's your brother doing? I've seen him hanging out with a girl from the hospital, Erica." He asks me, and Maya and I turn to each other, suppressing our own laughs after what we saw earlier.

"He's doing good. I saw him and Erica a bit earlier. It seems they're getting pretty… ahem… close."

"How's he been with the prosthetic? Any pain, anything like that?"

I shrug, "He's still adjusting to it, but he's doing better. Frankly, I think he's more happy that he doesn't have to use the crutches anymore."

He warmly smiles, stopping what he's doing to wipe a bead of sweat from his forehead. "I'm glad to be able to help. If he has any problems, make sure he comes to see me, alright?"

"Sure thing, Conrad. Thanks."

Down by the main gate, some commotion comes, and out of the corner of my eye, the sentries shout something out, rifles raised hostiley. I raise an eyebrow to Maya, and she nods back to me, both of us hurrying over to see what the commotion is.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"They killed him." I explain to the rest of the group, "They fucking killed Dez."

I don't get a response from any of them. Jesus, Jason, Javi, Derek, and Lilly all sit around a table with me as I break the news to four of them.

"The Whisperers pose a bigger threat than we thought. If what Lilly told me is true, then these people should have no problem coming at us. They know we helped defend the Delta, so that's put a target on our backs."

"Well that's bloody great." Jason sarcastically remarks, "The bastards are coming for us now, and we just lost one of our best men! The bloody hell are we gonna do now?"

"We have to go on the offensive," Javi says, Jesus nodding in agreement to his point, "We can't just stick around and wait for them to come to us. We need to act on this now, or else we're going to pay for it, dearly."

"He's right," Jesus adds, "The Whisperers are gonna set their sights on this place. There may be reinforced walls here, but all that doesn't matter if they breach them. When I go back to the Hilltop, I'll bring some extra people over to help defend Richmond. But Ian, you need to deal with this now, before it gets out of hand."

"Thank you, Jesus. Really, thank you." I smile to my friend as he and I shake hands. "You're both right, we need to take them out before they try and do the same to us."

"One question," Jason interrupts us, "If we were to attack them, where would we go to find them? They're covering a pretty big area, aren't they?"

"We'd have to look for them. We'd start around the area where we first found them, here." Lilly points out on the map, right near the area where we first found the Whisperers. "From there, we move North, towards the Delta. With any luck, or lack thereof, we'll find them."

"I don't like this. Not one bit." Jason quips.

"The alternative is letting them pick off more of us while we wait for an attack, Jason." I remind him, "There isn't much of a choice here. If we wait, more people are going to die."

"People are going to die regardless," Lilly adds, "I lost over thirty people yesterday in the attack. The last thing I want is to see more of our people dead, but you know just as well as I do that it's an inevitability now."

"Christ," He mutters, "I guess you're right. If the bastards aren't gonna let up, we have to take them out before they do the same to us."

"Jesus, how many people can you bring to help fight?" I ask him.

He ponders for a moment, looking up at the ceiling and exhaling. "I don't know for sure. I'd have to look at our numbers, but maybe fifty? Give or take a few."

"That'll do." Lilly says to him, "Now-"

"_Boss? You there?_"

"Go ahead, Max." I say into the walkie.

"_The Whisperers are back. They've got a hostage, one of the kids._"

"Who is it and what do they want?"

"_I don't know his name. Alpha says she wants to speak to you. She does not look happy._" Gee, I wonder why.

I glance around the room at the others, unsure of what to say. One of our people is being held hostage. Alpha knows we're helping the Delta. What am I supposed to do?

"_Boss?_" Max asks again as I snap out of it.

"Hold them, Max. Don't let them do anything. Weapons free only if they kill the kid. I'll be there in a minute."

He doesn't respond, causing me to look back at the walkie. It remains silent, and I look back up to the others. I motion for the others to follow me as I step out the door, and out towards the front entrance.

* * *

The gates slowly creak open as I'm met with the sight of the Whisperers, Alpha included. Those emerald eyes pierce me like a dagger as I walk out, handgun drawn, although lowered. Alpha holds a blade to the throat of someone, the kid they kidnapped earlier, whose face is covered by a bag.

"Well hello there." She warmly greets me, sarcastically albeit.

"I thought you said there was no conflict between us. It appears you have one of my people, here." I respond, ignoring her greeting.

"Now, now, Mr. Sullivan," I grit my teeth, wondering how she knows my name, "There was no conflict between us. But it appears you decided to get involved in our conflict with another group. Thus, we now have conflict."

"Trust me, lady, conflict with us is a bad idea." My brother-in-law fires back, which only makes her smirk.

"Perhaps so. You care a great deal about your people. Even if you were to defeat us, how many would you lose? Would it be worth it, Javier?"

Ok, this is weird. How much does she know about us?

"Your friend here intruded on our land, even after we warned against it. I told you the other day, there will be no conflict. I hoped we wouldn't have to see each other again, yet here we are. I would like to avoid any further conflict, as would you. But, I also warned there are dire consequences for defying my request."

She removes the bag, and reveals that the hostage was the boy, Aasim, one of the kids that Clem brought back from the school she and AJ found. Gagged and bruised all over his face, he weakly looks back at me with pleading eyes.

"I want the boy that was at the Delta." She demands, "Beta knows who he is. The boy from the woods that was also there. We know he's from here, and until we get him, your friend here shall suffer more and more."

She throws Aasim to the ground, pinning him to the ground as she pulls out his right arm with one arm, and pulls out a hatchet with another. A devilish smile forms on her face as she repeats her demand.

"Don't you fucking dare." I warn Alpha. She doesn't heed my warning, instead doubling down.

"I want the boy, and we shall make him suffer until we get what we want, Mr. Sullivan."

I glare back at her, not saying a word. I'm not giving up Brett for Aasim. How can I get Aasim back without giving someone up? Fucking hell, I don't know.

Moments pass by, and she swings the hatchet down, and spurts of red start flying out of Aasim's arm, now detached from his hand. Gasps come from behind me as others start yelling at her.

I'm lost in the chaos as all I can do is look in Aasim's eyes as he lets out a pained shriek from losing his hand. Around me, people cry out and yell at Alpha and the Whisperers, but none dare approach her and Aasim, who lays bleeding from his hand.

"I'm done playing games, Ian. WHERE. IS. HE?"

"ALPHA, STOP!" A voice booms out from behind me, and she does as she is told. From the crowd, Brett steps forward, stone cold look on his face as Maya cautiously follows.

Brett and Alpha meet, mere feet apart from one another, looking eye-to-eye. A small smile forms on her lips, but she doesn't say a word to Brett.

* * *

_Brett's POV_

"Well, I'm here. You wanted me, didn't you? Let Aasim get help, you can have me."

She eyes my friend and I back and forth before asking a single question. "You care about your people?"

I nod at her question, "I do. Aasim's my friend."

She contemplates my offer for a moment before nodding and motioning for a few Richmond people to take Aasim inside. I get one good look at my buddy, now passed out from blood loss, as they hurry him inside.

"You don't have to do this." Ian whispers to me, "We can end this right now."

"No. It's fine. I can do this." I whisper back. "For Richmond."

Alpha motions for me to put my arms out in front of me, and I comply, allowing one of the others to wrap a bind around my hands.

"Putting others before yourself is quite brave." Alpha remarks, "It's a shame that the line between bravery and foolishness is quite blurred nowadays."

"If it means my friends don't suffer from you animals, it's a choice I'll make every time." I fire back at her.

"There'll be plenty of time for suffering, child. Now come. I have plans for you."

"Wait!" Maya calls out as the Whisperers get ready to leave. I turn back to her as she pulls me in for one final hug and kiss, but I feel her slip something underneath my flannel and into the waist of my jeans. Her handgun, hidden away expertly. One gift before I go.

"Safety's on. You've got 15 in the mag and one in the chamber. Use them wisely, but shoot your way out if you have to, and get your ass back here as soon as possible." She instructs me quietly, not loud enough for anyone to hear but myself.

With one final kiss, I look back in her amber eyes one last time, getting a good look before I'm taken away, and something slips from my mouth.

"I love you, Maya."

Her stunned expression is all I see as a hand grabs the collar of my flannel, dragging me away from the girl I love. The Whisperer dragging me forces me forward, silently instructing me to walk with the group.

I take one quick look back at Richmond, the people helplessly watching me get dragged away. A Whisperer fist meets my side as a gravelly voice instructs me to keep walking forward. With a dejected sigh, I comply and turn my back to the city I've called home the last few weeks, walking further and further away into the cold afternoon.

* * *

_Ian's POV, Hours Later, Richmond Hospital_

I still can't believe what he did. Brett sacrificed himself for his friend, as well as Richmond as a whole. I pace back and forth down the hallway, contemplating everything that just happened.

"How's he doing?" I ask Eleanor as she steps out of the room, exhausted look on her face.

"He's doing fine." She responds, not exactly looking thrilled about it all. "There's no way we could salvage the hand. Especially with the technology we have now. He'll pull through, but he's gonna have to learn how to use his left hand more."

"Is he conscious now?"

She nods, "He's been in and out of it the last few hours. He should be awake now if you want to talk to him."

I nod to her, "I'd like that."

She leads me inside, and my heart sinks at the sight of the boy. His hand is wrapped tight in bandages and cloth to stop the bleeding, bruises cover his face and, I assume, the rest of his body. He slowly turns to me with a pained expression, which slowly turns into a small smile. "Hi."

"Hey buddy. How're you feeling?" I softly ask him. He coughs a couple times before lightly chuckling, slowly trying to sit up in his bed.

"If I'm being honest, I've had better days." He groans quietly. "My body feels like jello right now. And losing my right hand kinda sucked, too."

"What the Hell did those savages do to you?"

"They… I…" he stammers, "Alpha, she…"

"Forget I asked." I stop him abruptly, "Just get some rest. Eleanor'll take care of you."

"Ian?" He weakly asks me.

"Yeah?"

"Why did Brett give himself up for me?"

"Because he's your friend. He wanted to make sure you were safe, even at the cost of himself."

"Crap… we gotta get him back."

"We will. You just worry about getting better. We're gonna get him back."

"I'm gonna see those eyes in my nightmares for the rest of my life." He mumbles quietly. "Her eyes, I could feel them staring into my soul. Fuck. She's terrifying."

"I know she is. We're gonna deal with her. She won't hurt anyone else as long as I'm here."

He violently coughs, "You'd better do it quick… I overheard a conversation with one of the others. She wants to attack this place."

I softly smirk back at him. "She can try. But we can hold them off. Did she say what she was going to do?"

He shakes his head. "No. They're planning something big though. They want us all dead."

"I guess we'll have to kill them all then, won't we?" I grin back to him. "Now, get some rest. Eleanor'll be back soon."

"Can you get Ruby in here? I want to see her." He asks me before I can leave. I chuckle a bit before nodding back to him. I leave the room to find Eleanor and Lilly chatting together.

"Poor kid. Lost his hand just like that." I murmur to the two of them, "We need to do something about the Whisperers. We can't keep letting them do this."

"That sounds a lot more like Javier's area of expertise, not me." Eleanor remarks, "I'm more in the business of saving lives, not ending them, you know?"

"Fair point. Speaking of which, Aasim asked for Ruby. I'm not sure if she's working tonight but he wanted to see her if she is."

"I'll go find her." Eleanor softly smiles back to me as she walks down the hall, leaving myself and Lilly outside Aasim's room.

"I know I've said it before, but I appreciate you and your people helping my community. You had every right to turn me away, but you didn't. Even after all the pain I caused you. It feels like a lifetime ago, but that night still plays out in my head clearly. From the attack on the motor inn to me watching that damn RV drive off, it ate me alive for years." Lilly admits to me, and I put a hand on my friend's shoulder.

"Dez was right. This is worth fighting for. This place deserves it. Your people deserve it. We're gonna do this."

"We're gonna win. I won't let my little girl grow up worrying about these assholes. I'm sure you can say the same about your little boy."

"And a girl on the way," I add with an excited smile.

"Of course."

Sprinting down the hall, the pudgy redhead runs right past us, slamming the door open and slamming it shut immediately after as she comes in to see Aasim. I can only imagine what's going on with the young couple right now, and it's not all that pretty.

"You hungry? Kate's probably making dinner right now." I ask her as we start heading towards the exit.

"I am. This day's been so stressful I couldn't even think about eating. I'm still shocked about what Brett did."

"Kid's got balls, I'll give him that. You saw Maya slip the gun into his pants, right?"

"Girlfriend of the year, I'd say." She remarks, getting a chuckle out of me, despite the circumstances.

* * *

_Brett's POV_

_?_

Alpha's emerald green eyes meet mine as I'm thrown to the ground. She crouches down, leaning towards me until we are face-to-face. I lock my jaw and stare back at her.

"You show great confidence for one so young." She notes, not breaking her gaze into my eyes, "You are strong, unlike your friends. They need walls to live because they are afraid of what life really is. Those walls are a joke, a shrine to a long-dead world. The way we live, this is how it was intended."

I stay silent, glaring back at her. Inside, however, I feel my inside uneasily shaking about. My fingernails dig into my palms as she gets closer to my face, eye contact not breaking. I slowly try to back up, but her hand pulls me closer to her, the stench of her rotted flesh mask fills my nostrils. A knot begins to form in my guts as she puts a knife to my throat, pressing into my neck.

"I will not kill you, boy. Not yet. First, we will take out Richmond. All your friends, family, your little girlfriend, all burnt to the ground. Then the Delta. Then, when the dust has settled, you will finally see how much suffering you brought upon yourselves. When you finally understand that, then you get to die."

"You better do it quick, then." I mutter to her. For some reason, I smile and chuckle slightly. "Cause the moment I get free, I'm gonna kill you all."

Alpha stands back up, nodding to someone behind me as she walks away towards the rest of her camp. A splitting pain shoots throughout my head as I feel myself fall forward, crashing down onto the cold, hard winter ground. As the black dots that followed the punch slowly fade away, a pair of massive black boots walk right in front of me. I look back up at Beta with the same animosity I just had towards Alpha.

"The fuck are you looking at—"

I'm cut off by immediate blackness.


	7. Into the Darkness

**Chapter 7 - Into the Darkness**

_Ian's POV_

It's an uncharacteristically quiet dinner tonight. Even with more than usual at the table, no one feels like talking. Even Chandler, who usually babbles a mile a minute, is unusually silent tonight. Kate switches between giving me, Lilly, and Chandler concerned looks as the only sounds coming from any of us are the forks hitting ceramic.

I guess Kate heard about what happened with Brett. Word tends to spread pretty quickly around here, so I guess that's not much of a surprise.

"So, Ian said the two of you went to high school together?" Kate asks, trying to break the silence. Lilly simply nods, a smile forms on her face as she reminisces about the past. Simpler times. Better times.

"Ian was an interesting kid. All-State football player, honors student, had his pick of any girl in school he wanted, never once bragged about anything. He always kept his head down and did his thing. Super quiet, and yet had the entire school in the palm of his hand."

My wife looks at me, impressed. "You never told me you were practically the perfect kid growing up."

I shrug back to her with a small smirk, "I wasn't. I was a hardworking kid, but I was far from perfect. I had my times where I was a fuckup or even outright a bad kid, like everyone I suppose."

"Ain't that the truth?" Kate agrees, before looking at our boy, "I'm sure he'll get into his fair share of trouble, won't he?"

"Of course he will. It's impossible not to get into trouble at some point nowadays."

"How's your little girl?" My wife shifts her attention towards Lilly, who beams thinking about her daughter.

"Chloe is wonderful. She's about eight months old, and she loves crawling around the house quite a bit. My husband's just amazing with her, too. It's nice to be part of a family again. After I lost Mom and, especially, Dad, it really made me think about how lonely I was in the world. All on my own, nothing but the clothes on my back, I really owe a lot to Blake. I don't know if I'd make it out there without him."

"He seems like a good guy. I can't wait to meet him." I tell her, taking a sip of wine as I lean back in my chair.

"Have you thought about names for your little girl yet?" Lilly asks Kate, who gives me a small smile as she nods. I raise an eyebrow at her, confused as we haven't actually talked about it yet.

"I lost my stepdaughter, Mariana, about three years ago. She was shot right in front of me in an ambush, and I see those same empty eyes in my sleep at night when I have nightmares about that day. I know that sounds horrifying, but it really just makes me think about how much I love her and Gabe, my stepson." Late explains to Lilly, before turning to me. "And I've been thinking about this a lot, and maybe I should've mentioned it to you, Ian, but I think I want to name our daughter after her. Maybe not Mariana exactly, but something pretty like Maria or Marina."

"Maria Sullivan… Marina Sullivan…" I murmur to myself quietly, taking both my wife's suggestions to heart. Truth be told, I like the idea of naming our daughter after Mariana, but I have another name in mind.

"How about Marissa?" I suggest to her, "Marissa Sullivan."

Kate's eyes go wide as she grins and nods excitedly, "I love it. Marissa Sullivan. It sounds beautiful."

"Just like her." I remark as I raise my wine glass, taking a sip.

"So what are you gonna do about the Brett situation?" Lilly asks me.

Unsure of what to do, I have to shrug. "We don't know where they took him. Frankly, we don't even know if he's alive. All we can do is hope they don't do anything and try to get him back. He's a tough kid, so I think he can handle it. I just hope that they don't do anything to him. He's a strong-minded kid, but I can't imagine whatever Hell Alpha's putting him through is very pleasant."

* * *

_Brett's POV_

?

My eyes slowly open as I come to. Beta got me good, seeing as it's now dusk, I must've been out for a few hours at least.

The binds on my hands are gone. The Whisperers must've taken them off while I was unconscious. I now find myself bound to a tree on the outskirts of what must be their camp. Some rope tied several loops around myself and the tree are all that keeps me in place, but god damn did they tie me up tight. No slack whatsoever, I can barely move my hands.

"Rise and shine." A voice whispers from my left. I turn toward the source to see a new Whisperer, with bright red hair and cold blue eyes that don't break their gaze from me. "You're awake… good."

I scowl back at her, wriggling in my binds, trying to get free, "Fuck. You."

She scoffs quietly before throwing a mean sucker punch right at my gut, forcing me to keel over as best I can in my binds. Gasping for air, I glance back up as another fist flies in, landing an uppercut on my jaw as my head hits the tree.

She grabs me by the throat, propping me up against the tree as she gives me an unamused look. Even with my face bruising and swelling up a bit, a cocky smirk stays on my face, even a small chuckle escaping from my mouth.

She backs up a step, confused, as the chuckling continues. Other Whisperers from around the camp start to take notice as she throws a right hook at me, and I feel a small cracking sensation in my ribcage. Despite the pain, I keep the smirk on my face, and I keep chuckling at her. "Is that the best you got?" I whisper to her, mockingly. "Hit me, bitch."

I can see the fire in her eyes as she winds up another right hook, using all the force she can muster and landing the hit right on my left eye. I wince from the stinging, yet I still chuckle at her anger. I look back up to see her ready to throw another punch, and as she sends it, I quickly duck away from the punch as her fist collides with wood.

The small chuckle turns to full-on laughter as she cries out in pain, clutching her right hand, some of the fingers disfigured after punching the tree. The small crowd grows as I laugh like a maniac at her pain. With a growl, she gets back up and rushes up to me. As I see her pull out her knife, my laughter immediately dies down and I'm overcome by a feeling of immediate anxiety as she presses the blade against my throat.

"Enough." Alpha commands from the back of the crowd, forcing her way forward. "What is the meaning of this, Gamma?"

"I'm sorry Alpha," the redhead quietly apologizes to her leader, "The boy was showing defiance, so I—"

"Are you going to be a problem?" Alpha shifts her attention to me.

I can't bring it in me to respond. I simply can't. All I can do is stare back and swallow as the fire in her eyes burns hotter.

She grabs me by the neck, slamming me against the tree, "Answer me when I ask you a question, boy."

"Killing me… won't help you win…" I gasp out through her choke, "You can't win… won't win…You can let me go now… quit while you can..."

She releases her grip on my throat, allowing me to finally breathe again. I look back up at her as one final blow strikes down on me, a small trail of blood slowly drips down my chin follows as I struggle to look back up.

"You don't fear death…" She notes, "That's why I won't kill you now. Everyone fears loss. You have a girlfriend, family, friends? You fear losing them?"

"I won't let you touch them. You don't get to lay a finger on any of them, you evil bitch." I snarl at her, lashing at her the best I can, despite the binds.

She doesn't flinch. In fact, she almost seems amused by it all. Instead, she simply reaches into her pocket, pulling out something to show me. Maya's beretta clacks down at my feet as Alpha cockily chuckles.

"To her credit, it was a good attempt. She did fool us, and if you hadn't ran your mouth so much, you may still have it now."

I have no choice but to sigh, accepting that I fucked up. This is it. I had my chance to end this, and I l fucked it up. People are going to die because of this. People are going to die because of me, and all I can wonder is how I can get out of this one.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

_Outside His House_

"Kate's really nice. I'm glad you found someone to make you happy after all." Lilly says quietly as she takes a drag from her cigarette. I do the same from mine and grin, just like I always do thinking about her. But then, things get heavy in my mind as I think further back.

"After I lost Carley, I wondered if I was ever going to find love ever again. I'd be lying if I said I didn't debate ending it all a couple times. I had an easy out the whole time, it would've been so easy." I admit to her solemnly, "I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. Something stopped me from taking the easy way out. She wouldn't want me to do that. She'd want me to keep going. When I finally got a new reason to keep fighting, I knew I had to do something to make her proud."

"Do you think she'd be proud now?"

"I hope so. I've worked hard with this place. I've lost a lot of people I've cared about since this mess started. Seven years of fighting the undead, and yet I still manage to survive. I've got a family to fight for now, and while it's not what I imagined when I proposed to her, I really hope she'd be proud of what I've done."

She takes another drag, sighing as the smoke exits her mouth. "I haven't told Blake yet. I haven't told him about my past, and what I did to those kids. I mean, how do you tell someone you love that you did something that fucked up? He'd think I'm a monster… He'd be right…"

"I'm not gonna lie to you and say what you did was justified. You did unspeakable things to those kids. I wouldn't blame him if he did, frankly."

She sighs once again, "Yeah. I wouldn't, either. I am a monster. What the Hell happened to me?"

I can't answer that question. I just can't. I don't know if she's even looking for an answer out of me.

"I remember the night our group started to fall apart. Ben stole the medicine, and I thought it was Carley. You had every right to shoot me on the spot. But you didn't. I remember you tossed an empty handgun at my feet, because I begged you for a gun to defend myself. You gave me a gun, alright. Nothing but." She recalls that night as I relive some painful memories. My first time getting shot, my first time seeing Carley get shot, and a lot of other tense moments that day.

Sure enough, I did make sure to empty the gun before tossing it at her feet. After all, she did ask for a gun. She didn't ask for any bullets.

"I was so fucking mad at you when you did that. It was like you were playing a cheeky joke on me. But later on it hit me that I should've been mad at myself. That situation was so avoidable, yet I pressed it so much. It was my own fault I got into that situation." She continues somberly, reminiscing about that whole, fucked up situation.

"I don't know what I've done to deserve being alive as long as I have, because truth be told, I deserved to die after I shot Carley. I didn't deserve to meet Blake, or have a second chance at life, or start a family. Not after what I'd done, and definitely not now. Brett was right, I deserve to lose this war."

"Well, maybe it has nothing to do with deserving it. Maybe it's about doing what you can with the opportunity. You've made it this far, you can at least try to set things right, the best you can at least." I suggest to her, "I know the things you did were for your people and your family. I get it. I've done things, too. Things I haven't even told Kate about. But I've worked to right those wrongs, so you can, too."

"If only it were so easy…" She quietly responds.

"If it were easy, it would already be done." I tell her as I put out the cigarette on my front step. "But if we can deal with the Whisperers, it'd be a pretty damn good start."

"Ian? Lilly?" I see Louis' outline in the faint light from the torch next to me approaching the two of us. Next to him is a girl, Kenzie I think her name is. As they get closer, I can see clearly a panicked look on their faces.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" I ask the two of them curiously.

"Have you seen my sister?" Kenzie asks the both of us, "I haven't seen her since the Whisperers took Brett."

I glance at Lilly with some concern. I haven't seen her since they took him. The look she gives me back tells me she hasn't either.

"I haven't seen her. I don't know where she could be, to be honest." I admit to the pair. "Keep looking around town, I guess?"

Louis adamantly nods as he and Kenzie run down the street in search of Maya. As the two fade into the darkness of the night, I turn back to Lilly.

"You don't think she went after Brett, did she? She couldn't possibly do something that reckless, right?"

* * *

_Brett's POV_

_Whisperer Camp_

It's been hours. Hours of standing, tied to this tree. Gamma's given me a lot of nasty looks as she walks past me throughout the day, and plenty of Whisperers have thrown haymakers, too. The cocky attitude I once had is long gone. I don't know what it was, but no more.

Maybe it's hit me that I could die out here. Maybe no one's coming for me. Maybe I am fucked. And the only person I can blame for it is myself. Fuckin' A, Brett.

The rope around me loosens as it falls to my feet. I freeze as a hand drags my collar behind the tree into the darkness. In the darkness, I can barely see Maya as she reaches out, grabbing my hand as she pulls me into the darkness.

She doesn't say a word as she runs forward, and I try my best to keep up. The Whisperers did a number on me, and the sharp pain shooting up and down my sides shows it, but the alternative is going back to that camp. So, even as the pain shoots further and further throughout my body, I keep running for sweet life.

Our pace slows down some time later as we find the main road that leads back to Richmond. We take the chance to sit down by a tree and catch our breath.

"That was one Hell of an entrance." I joke to her as she giggles, leaning in for a peck, which I graciously accept.

"How're you feeling? Alpha and her friends fucked you up good." She asks, lightly rubbing a bruise on my left cheek.

"I'm a lot better now." I softly smile back at her. "Thanks for that, by the way."

"Don't mention it." She stands back up, offering me her hand. "Come on, we need to get back to Richmond."

I take her hand, the two of us run off once again into the darkness, to Richmond.

* * *

I've never been so relieved to see those big, metal gates. Not once. Max, apparently about to call it a night, raises the gates for us one last time before closing them once again. Maya, giving me some support, helps me limp through the streets towards the hospital.

"What did they do?" She asks me as the hospital comes into view.

I feel an even sharper pain as a chuckle forces its way out of me. "She beat the Hell outta me, that's what. Lilly was right. These people are more dangerous than we thought."

"I know they are. They're dangerous and they're not afraid to attack this place. I'm glad you understand that now."

"I should've known how ruthless she was the moment she blew that guy's head off. I'm scared, Maya. I'm scared of them. I'm scared of what they can do."

"I am, too. But I'm most scared about is what they could do to Kenzie. She won't fight for herself. She just can't. I don't blame her for it, she's just not a fighter. If they got their hands on her, she'd be on a pike the next morning for sure…"

She helps me into the hospital, bumping into Eleanor as she walks out.

"Holy shit, Brett!" She rushes over to me and help with support. "What happened? Ian told me you were in Whisperer hands right now."

"She broke me out." I tell her with a small grin. "They beat me up pretty bad, but I'm still breathing."

"Come on, let's get you in a room." The two of them walk me down the hallway into an open room, dropping me down on the bed as I let out a relaxed sigh. After standing against a tree for hours, enduring beating after beating, this hospital bed may as well be a luxury hotel.

"Jesus Christ, Brett." Maya whimpers in the faint light in the room, "We're gonna make them pay for this."

"You're damn right we are." I tell her, "This is just getting started."

* * *

_?_

"I knew this would happen."

"Of course she followed us. No matter. This was a warning shot that they failed to heed. For that, they'll pay."

"Are we ready?"

"Soon. When the time is right."

* * *

A chill runs down my spine as I look out at the icy tundra out in front of me. A light dusting of snow covers the ground, but the temperature isn't why I've got the chills. Oh no. I know this place all too well. And even as I look out, taking in the view that's haunted my dreams for years, the chills only get worse as I hear her voice once again.

"Of all the places you could've chosen..."

I turn to my left to see those brown eyes I fell in love with so many times. Some straight, brown hair that went down just past her shoulders, and a small smile that never failed to warm my heart, even now, when the thought of it all gives me the chills.

"Carley…"

"Ian…"

For the first time in years, I pull Carley in for a hug. She still looks as beautiful as the day I met her, not a day older. The same woman I dated for almost two years, proposed to when our lives changed for the better, but then had to put her down when life got to its worst. Losing feeling in my knees, I practically melt into her hug, a few tears streaming from my eyes as everything hits me.

"What is this?" I ask her, not daring let go of her. "This can't be real. I-It just can't be."

"Truth be told, I don't really know either." She responds, still holding onto me as well. "All I know is, I'm glad to see you again. Even if it is just some sort of dream."

"You can say that again." I chuckle as more tears fall, "Without you, the last five years have been-"

"Amazing. They've been amazing, Ian." She finishes my sentence for me, albeit with different words than I'd choose. "You've loved and lost, but look at what you've done since. You took down an evil regime, fixed their mistakes, and led Richmond in the right direction. You married a great woman, and started a beautiful family with her. And most of all, you kept fighting, when life had you on the ground, you got back up. I take great pride in that, I hope you know."

I sniff as Carley's words bring a wide smile to my face. Our hug breaks apart, and I finally get to see her face again, no tears, which gets me to wipe mine away, to little avail. "Kate and Chandler keep me going. They're amazing. Whenever I feel down, I just think about them, and what they've done for my life, and it motivates me to be better, for them. You'd love them."

"You sure know how to choose your women," my ex-wife remarks, getting a light chuckle out of me.

"I got you after all, didn't I?"

"And I thanked my lucky stars every night that you got me."

The tears start coming back as I feel myself on the verge of crying. "I miss you." I sob to her. "I miss you so fucking much. I should have never let that kid get you. Fucking Arvo, I should've shot him when I had the chance."

She frowns before pulling me in for another hug. "There was nothing you could've done. You did all you could. I was just too far gone."

I slowly shake my head, knowing she's right, and I bury my face into her neck and collar. "I wish this was real. I miss having you with me. There was no one I wanted by my side through this shit more than you." I mumble to her, and I feel her hands rubbing my back, comforting me as our hugs dissolves.

"I will always be with you." She smiles, before planting a kiss on my cheek and poking me in the chest. "Right here, in your heart."

Once again, I wipe away most of my tears and give her a teary smile. "That's… really corny."

She rolls her eyes in that cute way I always loved. "It's true, though. I'm always watching over you. I'm always with you, even if I'm really a corpse in Tennessee. You'll always have me with you, one way or another."

She and I look out further, and sure enough, there it is. Her body, fresh like when I lost her. A bullet wound in her chest, caused by the Russian kid that caused my misery, and a bullet wound in her head, caused by me so her body could rest, and not haunt the world as a walking corpse. Some blood-soaked bandages lay next to her, my last-stitch attempt at saving her, which ultimately failed. I have to hold back another round of tears, thinking back to that day, but with a sniff, I successfully clear my throat and wipe away any remaining tears.

"You're always watching?" I ask her, curious about something she just said.

"Always."

"So you know that Lilly and I are allies now?"

"Sure do."

"And you don't think any less of me because of it? Working with the woman that tried to kill you?"

"Of course not. You have a common enemy here, and you're doing this to keep your people safe. You have a family and a community to keep safe, and you're doing whatever it takes to keep them safe."

"And all the other fucked-up things I've done? If you've been watching, you know that I've killed a lot of people."

"I saw you beat a man's head in with a crowbar until his face looked was mush because he killed your sister. If I can let that slide, then I can let you torturing and killing some other assholes slide, too."

"Thanks for that, by the way." I hear another voice from behind me, another woman's voice. I turn back around as she leaps onto my arms, bubbly giggling like always. Mia.

"Mia… Holy shit…" I grin at the sight of my little sister, now long gone, but right here, she looks like the sister I knew and loved for eighteen years, right up until the moment she was taken from me. Days before I lost Carley…

"You've been doing pretty well for yourself, big brother." Mia beams, lightly punching me in the arm. "In charge of a community, beautiful wife, great son, and a daughter on the way. Wish I could've been around to see it all in person."

"Chandler would've loved his Aunt Mia. I can guarantee that." I laugh, seeing my sister starting to tear up a bit, too.

"What about Uncle Mick?" I look up, past Mia, and seeing someone I hadn't seen since the outbreak. Michael "Mick" Sullivan, my brother. He died during the outbreak, but here he is, standing right in front of me. I barely even recognize him at this point, his face almost faded from my memory. He sports that same long, messy brown hair, and a wide, toothy grin on his face that I could barely remember.

In pure shock, my jaw drops as a laugh escapes from it. All I can do is nod as I soon notice two other people have appeared. A large man, with slightly graying hair, and a slender woman, with platinum blonde hair. Mom and Dad.

"Grandpa Rich and Grandma Hannah?" Dad asks as my siblings and parents all come in for a big family hug. Squeezed in the middle, all I can do is mumble back to them.

"All of them. He'd think you're all the best."

"We're so proud, Ian. We've been watching you grow into the man you are today. You've grown so much as a man. And I'm so happy you're still fighting." Mom praises me, getting up on her toes to kiss me on the forehead, and I feel color rushing to my cheeks.

A hand lightly grabs my shoulder, and I'm met with the warm, welcoming eyes of a tall, black man. The last I'd seen of him, he was searching for a little girl in the streets of Savannah, mere hours away from joining the dead. My former college professor, Lee Everett.

"I can't believe this is the same kid that I taught American History."

"Spring of 2009" I smile back to my professor. "Thank you for saving Clementine. I wouldn't be around today if she wasn't alive, too."

"You can only thank me for so much." He reminds me. "There were others that helped just as much as me."

"Yeah, like me." A gruff Southern voice follows. And I turn around to be immediately met with the sight of a single brown eye, the other covered by a black eye patch.

"Kenny…" I say to him, my insides immediately churning at the thought of how I left him, Clem bleeding out in his arms, abandoning the group.

"Save the nice words, alright?" He snarls to me. "You know I don't have much to say. But, being this is a dream and you've got a real piece of work to deal with in these Whisperer assholes, I'll just tell you this. Keep Clem and AJ safe. That's all I have to say to you."

A small smile forms on my face. "Of course, Kenny. I'll protect them with my life."

"How is my boy?" A booming voice asks, and I turn to see a black couple, AJ's parents, Alvin and Rebecca.

"He's great, Alvin. Bit of a handful, but he's a great kid. Pretty bright, lots of fun, and apparently a pretty good shot."

"Oh yeah, we saw all the messes he got into at that damn school." Rebecca remarks, and Alvin lets out a bellowing laugh, although she doesn't look as amused. "Please keep him safe, and out of trouble. Preferably no more killing kids."

"I'll do the best I can, but you guys know Clem, trouble always seems to follow."

The two of them give me a warm smile, before they both fade away into nothing. I look around me, and I'm met with smiling expressions of all the people I'd lost, fading away to nothing, one-by-one. Kenny, Lee, Mom, Dad, Mick, and Mia, until it's just me and Carley.

"So this is it?" I ask her, and she nods back.

"For now. You'll see me again."

I nod back to her. "Looking forward to it, Mrs. Sullivan."

"In the meantime, kick some ass out there. The Whisperers don't stand a chance against you."

Carley pulls me in for one final kiss, just like when I lost her, although there's nothing sad about this kiss. Just a perfect feeling of tenderness as she, too, fades from this reality. With one last second of clarity, I take in the sight around me, which soon fades into nothing but pitch black.

* * *

My eyes squint open at the pink early morning sky, rays of orange and yellow streaking across the skyline as night becomes morning. Laying down next to me is Kate, lightly snoring away as I sit up in bed. All I can do is smile as I look out at the morning scenery, just like how Carley and I would when we were dating.

"Thank you, Carley…" I softly whisper to no one as I sit back and enjoy the view. "Thank you, Carley, for everything."

**It sucks when I have a chapter about 75% done all for me to break my wrist and make it excruciatingly painful to write for a while. Thankfully, the pain is going down and it's become more comfortable to write with the brace. Given everything that's going on, no scheule for this. When I get it done, it'll be uploaded. See you guys when I see you.**

**Reviews greatly appreciated!**


	8. This Means War

**Chapter 8 - This Means War**

_Two Weeks Later_

_Brett's POV_

"Brett…" Maya's soothing voice whispers to me in the faint morning light. I slowly open my eyes to meet hers, and I can't help but smile.

"Good morning." I mumble to her as chills run up and down my body, causing me to huddle closer to her under the blankets. She giggles as she pulls me in closer.

The frigid morning air hits even harder as the both of us step out of the apartment, dressed in what passes for winter clothes nowadays, thin sweatshirts and sweatpants. If you're lucky, you'll find a pair of gloves or a hat somewhere, but it's not something you should bet on.

Things have been quiet with the Whisperers lately. Actually, we haven't heard a thing about them. No ambushes, no sightings, nothing. You'd think that's reassuring nowadays, but not really. It just makes me wonder what's really happening. Someone as ruthless as Alpha doesn't just give up cause the weather gets a little cold, right?

It's early January, I think. I've tried to keep track of the date, but it's hard to do that when they haven't made calendars in almost eight years. Benji's birthday is February 6, so I'll have to get him something. What do you get a boy for his eighteenth birthday, in a world that's all but ended? I'll think of something.

Things between the three major communities around here, Richmond, the Delta, and the Hilltop, have grown rather strong, which has created a pretty solid relationship amongst all of us. Now, regularly, Ian, Lilly, and Jesus meet up and discuss issues, usually the Whisperers.

I haven't been able to do much the last few weeks. Eleanor said I probably cracked a couple ribs, which makes sense. The Whisperers did a number on me and I've been told I need to rest. At least I can say I've had Benji, Maya, and Louis to help me with things while I recover. I truly am blessed to have them here.

But still, sitting around while everyone else is doing stuff is killing me. Especially with the Whisperers still being around. Even though there's been nothing from them in weeks, the tension seems to build off that, like we know something's happening, we just don't know when.

Down the street from the apartment, I see Louis and Kenzie kicking a ball around with AJ, Clem, and a few others. AJ notices me almost immediately, running from the group to flag down me and Maya.

"Brett! Guess what? Clem's teaching me to play something called soccer today!" The boy exclaims to me and my girlfriend excitedly. I grin and give AJ a high-five as the three of us join the group consisting of Louis, Kenzie, Clem, Aasim, and Violet.

"How're your ribs feeling?" Aasim asks me. I rub them softly, still feeling tender, as I give him a shrug.

"They're feeling better, not great though. I'm gonna try and do some light activity today to see if I can, and we'll see from there. How's everything been with the… you know?"

I nod to the stump that used to be his right hand as he sighs. "You know, it sucks. I miss having my hand. You take that sorta thing for granted for a while until next thing you know, it's gone. I haven't been able to write in weeks, it's miserable." Oh yeah, Aasim likes to write.

AJ kicks the ball to Louis, who does a trick with it before sending it to Violet, who apathetically kicks the ball to Clem. Her one good eye glares back at me. She doesn't say a word, just staring me down from across the group.

I hate this. I hate that she's still holding a grudge against me. I hate that she hasn't talked to me in weeks. I hate that even though I did the right thing, she's still mad at me.

I don't know what it's gonna take for her to understand at this point.

"Brett," Clem pulls me aside, "Can we talk?"

I glance back at the rest of the group, still kicking the ball around, before nodding to Clem as the two of us walk away.

"Is everything okay between you and Violet?" She asks as we get out of earshot.

I shake my head. "She hasn't talked to me in weeks. I don't get why she's still mad at me for going to the Delta. It wasn't my choice AND they're our allies now. Why hasn't she let it go yet?"

"I think you're forgetting everything that happened to her because of them. They put her through Hell." She reminds me.

"I haven't forgotten for a second. But the truth of the matter is, she needs to understand the threat we're dealing with is much bigger than this." I snap back at her. She crosses her arms and scowls.

"You're right. She does need to understand that. At the same time, you need to keep your head. She'll come around, just give it time."

I nod once to her as we walk back to the group, apparently wrapping up their little soccer game. Louis, Kenzie, and Maya walk over to us to check up.

"Everything okay?" Louis asks, and Clem and I both nod back.

"Everything's fine. We just had to discuss something." I assure him.

He gives me some sort of skeptical look before changing his expression. "Well then, you guys feel up to go hunting today?"

"I thought today was Aasim's day." Clem replies, and Louis sheepishly grins.

"I, uh, bet Aasim a shift that I'd beat him in the shooting range. It seemed like a sure thing but, uh, he whooped my ass."

Clem and I giggle at our friend's misfortune for a moment before coming to the agreement that we'd go hunting. Even Kenzie, the ultimate pacifist, according to her sister, wants to come. Although, I'd be shocked if she tried to kill anything if we're being honest.

* * *

The crunching of the hard ground under my feet and the short, rapid breaths in the cold are the only sounds we can hear. It's only the five of us out here, only a little ways away from the city.

In the light dusting of a snowfall, I can make out the traps hanging from the trees, just like the setup we had at Ericson's. Snares are set up to catch rabbits and whatever else hanging from trees, some of which are sprung. I walk up to one of the traps that was sprung, an adult rabbit squirming about for dear life looks up at me.

I still haven't gotten used to the sickening crunch noise that it makes when you snap their necks. I know it's nothing personal, but I feel guilty doing it. Like, that rabbit did nothing to me, yet I felt inclined to kill it because of the meat it provides.

As I cause the uncomfortable feeling in myself once again, I hear a yell from deeper in the woods.

"HELP! PLEASE HELP!"

The five of us freeze, turning in the direction of the shout. A guy, not much older than us, runs toward us. Hands raised, he immediately stops as Maya and I both draw our handgun at him.

"Please, don't shoot!" He pleads, "My friend, she needs medical help. She was stabbed!"

Maya and I glance at each other for a moment, unsure about it all. She turns to the guy with a follow up question.

"How many people are with you?"

"It's just me and two of my friends. My group was ambushed earlier and most of my group was killed. We're all that's left." He tells us through shaky breaths.

"Was it the Whisperers?" Clem asks him, "A bunch of people wearing walker skins?"

"Is that what they're called?" He responds. "I didn't know. But yeah, we found a pack of lurkers and one of them stabbed my friend. Others started attacking us, too. Can you please help us?"

"Where are they?" Louis asks, concerned, and the boy points further into the woods.

"Not too far. I'll take you to them."

He runs off in the direction he pointed, the rest of us staying behind for a moment to look at one another before Louis runs after him. The rest of us follow, as the boy finally stops by a tree well ahead of us, crouching down.

As we catch up, we hear a girl's labored breathing, followed by coughing. Sure enough, two other kids around our age, one bleeding from her abdomen and the other trying to stop the bleeding. He frantically grabs a shirt from his bag and forcefully placed it over her wound, trying to stop the bleeding.

"Stay with me, Rachel." He whispers, pointing to Louis. "You! Help me put pressure on the wound!"

Louis calmly walks over to the girl, putting pressure on the wound before turning back to the rest of us. "She's not going to last much longer. We need to get her back to Richmond."

"Let's go, then. We're not far. We've got a hospital back at our community." I explain to the two boys and the girl.

We lift her up, making sure to keep pressure on the wound. I keep her head and upper body stable as Louis secures her legs.

Once she's secure, I nod to Louis, who nods back. On to Richmond.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

_Richmond_

Lilly's SUV enters through the gates and parks right in front of me. She steps out from one door as the other side's door opens too. Stepping out is one of the tallest men I've ever seen in my life. Standing a good four or five inches taller than me, he walks over to me as Lilly opens another door of the SUV, unbuckling her little girl.

He extends his hand to me, "Blake Woodson. You're Ian, right?"

"Sure am. Ian Sullivan. Welcome to Richmond." I reply as I shake his hand.

"Lilly's told me a lot about this place. It seems like you guys have a pretty good system in place."

"We like to think so. The place is doing pretty well for itself, if I do say so myself."

"I wish I could say the same about the Delta." He frowns, looking back at his wife, "The Whisperers pick us off left and right. The bastards are relentless. We're losing people every day, it feels like."

"We've had our share of issues with them. But we're ready for anything they throw at us. We've got the manpower and the firepower."

"You never know with her." He reminds me, "Alpha always seems to be one step ahead."

"No kidding." Jason remarks, "Always one step ahead."

Ever since Dez was killed, Jason has been acting as my second in command. He doesn't have the military background Dez had, but he's reliable and frankly, he's a good person to have around.

"Is Jesus here?" Lilly asks, but I shake my head.

"He's not coming until tomorrow. In the meantime, we can get you guys situated here and discuss the situation."

"What about Maya and Kenzie? I haven't seen them in weeks." Lilly asks me, and I shake my head once again.

"Nope. They went out with Brett, Louis, and Clem to go hunt about half an hour ago. They'll be back soon."

"Kenzie? Hunting? That's not like her." Blake notes, and his wife flashes me a smile.

"If I had to guess, she wanted to spend time with Louis. They've been rather close lately, if you get what I'm saying."

He chuckles as he sends a confirming nod my way. "I see. Well good for the both of them. I think they're good for each other."

"Brett and Maya, too." Lilly adds. "They were practically made for each other."

"Can't forget about them." I warmly smile.

* * *

_Brett's POV_

_The Gates_

I signal for Max to raise the gates as we rush up to the gate. Without a second of hesitation, the creaky metal lifts and we rush inside.

"Hospital's a couple blocks away. We're almost there!" I tell the two boys as we rush the girl down the road.

"Is she breathing?" The one that approached us in the woods asks. I put two fingers to her neck and I'm met with an ever so light heartbeat. I nod back to him, knowing she's slipping away.

We rush her into the hospital, laying her down on the floor. "Hey! Someone help! We've got someone hurt here!" Louis calls out to whoever can hear.

Erika, Benji's girlfriend, steps out through one of the doors and gasps at the sight before her. "Oh my God! What happened?"

"She was stabbed by a whisperer." The other boy explains, "We rushed her here, but she's lost a lot of blood, please help!"

"Brett, Louis, help me get her to a room. I'll have Eleanor get to her right away. The rest of you, stay right there." Erika tells all of us as Louis and I pick her up. She leads us through another set of doors leading to a long hallway, rooms on either side. She opens up a door to one of the rooms available and motions for us to set her down.

She checks for a pulse as we anxiously watch on as her expression changes from determined to outright terrified. "Shit, she's not breathing. I'm getting Eleanor. Stay here until then, got it?"

Neither Louis nor myself hesitate to nod. She rushes from the room without a single word.

"Jesus Christ." Louis sighs as he slumps down into the chair. "What the fuck…"

"We did good." I assure him, "We did what we could. Whether or not she pulls through, we got her here. That's all we could do."

"I know, and you're right. It's just fucked up, that's all. How did this world get so fucked up that it had to come to this? Have you wondered about that? How did things get this way?"

I ponder a response to that question. How did things get like this? I have to assume the Whisperers were normal people, just like us. They had families and jobs and hobbies, just like we did. They were just like us, but what caused them to be like this and not us?

I guess the end of the world affects people in different ways.

Louis and and turn to look as the girl Rachel takes a raspy breath. Her body twitches as I slowly approach her. She takes another raspy breath as her eyes open. Her milky white eyes target me as she rises and reaches out at me.

"Son of a bitch!" I yell out as she grabs one of my sleeves, refusing to let go. Her raspy breaths become full on groans as she lashes her jaws at me. I trip backwards on something as I find her pinning me to the floor, biting the air in front of my face. "Louis! Get her off me!"

He tries to pull her off, but even as he pulls and I try to wiggle away, the deadlock she holds on me is too much.

The door slams wide open and I hear a gasp. A loud pop follows as Rachel's corpse stops attacking me, a fresh bullet wound in her forehead seeps a little blood on me, but it's a far cry from what could've been.

The silence that follows is nothing short of deafening, aside from my breathing, Louis' breathing, and Eleanor's. She stashes her pistol in her pocket as she helps me to my feet and into a chair.

"Are you okay?" Eleanor asks me. I swallow once before nodding to her, catching my breath.

"No bites. I'm okay. Man… that was close… Thanks for that."

"We should probably break the news to the guys." Louis suggests. "They need to know."

"You're right." I respond to him, "Let's go."

It's a short but grim walk down the hall. I don't know if it's cause of the fact I almost got bit or because it's always kinda grim in these places, but I almost let out a sigh of relief when I see Maya, Clem, Kenzie, and the two guys sitting in the lobby. Their conversation stops as all eyes turn to us. The hope stays for a moment, but when they see our expressions and the blood on my clothes, reality sets in.

"She's gone. She turned before we could do anything. I'm sorry." I say to the guys quietly. Solemnly, the both of them look down at the floor, shaking their heads. My stomach sinks thinking about their loss as I look towards Maya, Clem, and Kenzie, all of whom give sympathetic looks.

"Are you okay?" Maya asks, pointing to the blood on my shirt.

"When she turned, she put up a bit of a fight." I tell my girlfriend, "It got a little messy but we took care of it."

She nods to me as attention shifts back to the boys. The taller one stands up and looks me and Louis in the eyes. "Thank you for trying."

I give him a sympathetic look and a hand on his shoulder. "Of course."

"Rachel was my sister." The other one mumbles, "She was all I had left. And now she's gone."

"You'll get through this, Cain." Clem assures him, "She'd want you to keep fighting, wouldn't she?"

He nods back with a frown. "She would. It's gonna be hard, but I have to."

"I'm Logan by the way." The other boy introduces himself, "I didn't give you my name earlier, but I got the chance to meet the others while you were... taking care of his sister. You're Brett, I'm assuming?"

"That's right. And he's Louis." I motion towards him.

The doors to the hospital open up as Ian, Lilly, and Blake all walk in. Ian looks at us before turning to Clem, "What happened? Eleanor told me someone was in critical condition."

"She didn't make it." Clem tells him, "She turned and Brett and Louis put her down. Everything's good now, I think."

"And who are they?" He nods over at Logan and Cain, looking down and avoiding Ian's glance.

"That's Logan and Cain. Cain's sister was the girl that died, and Logan is his friend. Their group was attacked by Whisperers, and they're all that's left."

"Damn. I'm sorry to hear that. My name's Ian Sullivan. I'm the leader of Richmond. We know how vicious the Whisperers can get all too well. You boys can stay here for the time being."

They both look up at him with hopeful eyes. Smiles form on both their faces as they finally show some sort of happiness.

"Thank you, sir. Really." Logan says quietly to him.

* * *

_Hours Later_

_Brett, Benji, and Louis' Apartment_

"What. A. Day." Louis says as he plops down in a chair. Maya and I do the same on the couch as Kenzie snuggles into Louis on the chair. "I need a nap after all that excitement."

"You can say that again." I agree with him. "Almost dying really takes a lot out of you."

"You have no idea." My brother remarks as he walks out of our bedroom. "Erika told me what happened. That's some crazy shit."

"It's a crazy world out there." Kenzie says, "We really should be more careful out there. If the Whisperers ambush us like that, we'd be screwed."

"You're right." Maya adds, "Especially because we're from Richmond or the Delta. Who knows where these guys were from, and they were still ambushed. They're a problem, and I'm glad this is being dealt with".

"So what happened with the other guys?" Benji asks, following up as he sits down.

"Ian set them up in an apartment down the hall. I think they're unwinding in there right now. They've been through a lot today." Louis responds, Benji nodding in confirmation.

"We've all been through a lot today. It'll be nice to just sit back and unwind." I say as I lean back on the couch, Maya cuddling into me as the both of us giggle.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

_NorthEast Wall_

_Dusk_

I don't know what caused it. But here we are. A dozen or so of us staring down the massive hole in the wall, waiting for the inevitable as we have nothing to plug it with. The groans grow louder and louder with each second. Every second, I feel the thumping in my chest with more force, more pronounced. I glance around at the dozen or so people with us, including Lilly, Blake, Clem, Javi, and Jason, all of us anxiously waiting for it to start.

The walker steps through, stumbling towards us as a single round from my AK-47 lands right between its eyes. More and more start to come as I hear a clanking sound at my feet. I look down as my vision is overcome with a blinding light.

* * *

_Ten Minutes Earlier_

"Oh shit! Is that what I think it means?"

"I think so! She's early!"

"Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit." I frantically reach for my walker talkie with one hand and my jacket for the other. "Eleanor! Eleanor come in!"

"I'm here Ian. What's going on?" I hear her voice on the other end.

"Kate's going into labor. The baby's early! I need you at my house ASAP to bring her to the hospital. I'm leaving Chandler with Annalyse and Jason and be with you soon."

"Okay. I'll be there in a minute."

I run upstairs to Chandler's room, finding him in bed with his favorite lion toy. His attention turns to me as I reach out and pick him up.

"I've gotta take Mommy to the hospital, so you're gonna go play with Annalyse and Jason, alright?"

He nods enthusiastically as I grin to my son. He'll never turn down a chance to play. Like all kids, I have to assume. In my arms, the two of us walk downstairs to find Kate laying on the couch, quickly breathing and holding her stomach.

"Eleanor'll be here soon, honey. Don't worry, everything will be fine." She quickly nods back to me before I give her a kiss on the cheek and walk Chandler out of the house.

I don't think I've ever walked faster in my life than I did to Jason and Annalyse's house. Knocking on the door, I tap my foot anxiously, Kate never leaving my mind. The door slowly opens and Annalyse's bright smile greets me.

"Hi Ian, what's up?"

"Annalyse, I need a favor. Kate's gone into labor, I need someone to watch Chandler for the night. Can you watch him?"

"Of course!" She enthusiastically responds as she takes Chandler from my hands. "Don't leave her waiting! Go!"

It helps to have some old football speed on my side. I haven't had to do much sprinting lately, but if there was ever a time, it was now, trying to miss as little as possible of my daughter's birth. The explosiveness may be a bit rusty, but the speed's still here. I damn near break through the hospital doors as I run right into Erika Hayes, a young nurse at the hospital.

"Jesus, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" I ask her as I help her up. She nods as she dusts herself off.

"I'm fine. I'm assuming you're looking for Kate?"

As I catch my breath, I nod back to her.

"Room 11 on the left."

"Thank you so much." I tell her as I run through another set of doors down the hall and, sure enough, my wife's screams and groans echo throughout the hall.

I step into Room 11 and see Kate laying on a bed in her hospital gown. Her pain seemingly died down a bit, although Eleanor's expression tells me that this is it.

"I'm here, Kate. How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine. I'm fine." She gasps out, followed by a pained whimper. I put one hand on her shoulder and she grabs my other hand, putting it in a vicelock.

Frankly, I have bigger things to worry about than my hand.

"_We've got a breach! Northeast wall!_" Fern's voice comes through my walkie. Everything slows down for a moment as I reach for my walkie.

"Come again, Fern. Breach at Northeast wall?"

"_Yes, sir. A few stragglers have gotten in but we can hear more coming! We need backup!_"

"Roger that. Hold tight, I'm coming." I assure her. I let go of my wife's shoulder and look over at Eleanor. "You got your gun?"

She nods back. "Never leave home without it."

"Good. We're under attack. Lock the door behind me and don't let anyone in. Keep you, Kate, and our daughter safe, alright."

"Likewise. Good luck out there."

I take one last look at Kate, overwhelmed by the pain and stress of the situation. I take a deep breath before giving her a comforting nod. "I'll be back, Kate. I love you."

I hurry back down the hall, M1911 in hand as I see Erika sitting at the front desk, nonchalantly going through papers. I approach the desk, handing her my gun. "There's been a breach. It sounds serious. Use this if you need to, and watch out for Whisperers. I have a feeling they're doing this."

"Oh my God…" she gasps. "Are you serious? A breach?"

I look her in the eyes, dead-on. "I'm on my way to try and deal with it now. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be nothing, but I'm not confident we'll be so lucky."

With that, I step out and immediately hear gunfire in the distance. I guess that's the direction I should go in.

* * *

_Now_

"Flashbang!" Someone's voice echoes out as I stumble backwards, dazed. The ringing in my ears slowly fades away as my vision comes back, too, to the sight of walkers pouring in and rounds being fired into the crowd. I raise my rifle and spray a few shots, dropping a few but the herd seems to rapidly increase.

Others start falling back as we quickly get overwhelmed, but I stay back, firing rounds into the crowd and seeing them drop, one by one.

I look backwards, seeing the others motioning for me to fall back, which I finally do. Lilly and Blake, both shooting their AK-47s into the crowd.

"It's the Whisperers." Lilly growls as she dumps an empty magazine. "I saw her, Alpha. She's here."

"Let's deal with the walkers first. But if you see a clean shot at her, fucking take it." I tell her.

"The ammo's gonna run dry soon." Blake adds, "We need more guns."

As though it were on cue, more automatic gunfire comes from behind us, not of the dozen or so that came to the breach.

Brett, with an AR-15 he picked up in the armory, leads the charge as he shoots into the crowd. Maya, standing right next to him, pops dual-wielded Glock 17s into the crowd. Louis, carrying a Benelli M4 shotgun, casually walks up to a walker and turns its brains into red mist with a single powerful slug. Brett throws a drag grenade into the crowd, and walker limbs go flying a few moments later.

I load in a new mag and start spraying into the horde again, mowing down walkers limb by limb.

"Jason!" I look over at my lieutenant, loading a fresh magazine into his MK-14 EBR, "Get a truck from the garage to seal the gap."

"Got it, boss!" He calls out to me, running down the road and away from the firefight. I set my sights on one walker, squeezing the trigger once and seeing its brains splatter all over the place.

More and more of us step up, mowing down the crowd and pushing back. Hundreds of rounds are fired into the crowd, the carnage piling up in the street. The herd seems to be thinning out from the breach. Perfect.

I hear the roar of a truck's engine as Jason speeds down the street, right past me and into the crowd, flattening dozens like roadkill as he parks it in the hole in the wall.

He steps out, throwing a knife into an approaching walker's forehead with ease. He removes it, using it to stab another walker.

I look around, it seems quiet. I don't see any movement from the pile of walker remains, so maybe we killed them all.

"Is that it?" Clem asks as she walks up to me, looking around.

"I think so. Keep your eyes open." I tell her as I approach several corpses. One stands out to me, wearing a walker skin mask. I pull it off, and sure enough, it's a dead whisperer. I drop his dead body in disgust, keeping his skin mask in my hand.

"They're getting ambitious." Jason remarks, kicking a dead body, "This could've gone a lot worse."

"It could've. Thank God we stopped it before it went too far." I look up at the truck, hearing a few walkers banging on the hood. They're not getting through that anytime soon. We'll need to fix it up with something permanent soon, though. I don't trust that.

"Blake? BLAKE?" Lilly falls out, looking for her husband. Confused, I look at her.

"Where'd he go? Wasn't he just with you?"

"Brett and Maya ran off after someone. He went after them. I can't find any of them." She says nervously, and I feel a squirming feeling in my stomach.

"Fuck, where?"

* * *

_Brett's POV_

_Five Minutes Earlier_

"There! I see him!" I tell Maya as I see a particularly tall walker sneaking off from the crowd. The all too familiar figure slips down an alleyway, and I run after him.

"Brett, wait!" Maya says as she chases after me, but I can't stop. I need to stop Beta before he does anything. I turn into the alley, seeing Beta turn back towards me, knife drawn.

"You!" He growls to me, "I knew you'd be here."

I don't respond, freezing up as he walks over to me. He grabs me by the collar, throwing me down the alley. I let out a groan as I hit the cold concrete, looking up to see Beta do the same to Maya.

He crouched over me, putting the knife up to my face. "You people started this fight. We are here to end it. We will end it, and end you."

Beta's pulled away from me as I see Blake throw him to the ground, pulling out a knife of his own.

Beta groans as he gets to his feet, blocking a swipe from Blake as he counters with an uppercut that sends Blake backwards. He struggles to even look up before Beta throws his knee right to his jaw. Blake hits the ground hard, looking up at Beta as he slowly steps over to him, raising his knife up in the air.

Blake grunts as his eyes shoot wide open, the blade piercing his abdomen with force. He reaches up at Beta, reaching out for dear life, but he soon goes limp. His head slowly turns to look at me with blank eyes.

"No…" I gasp, struggling to my feet as Beta knocks me down again. He pins me down on my back, forcing the knife down at me.

"I left you to die at the Delta… I let you live back at the camp..." he growls quietly, "I won't make that mistake again."

With all my strength, I push back. Pushing back for dear life, he slowly overpowers me. His knife inches closer and closer as my muscles ache.

"RAAAAAAAAARGH!" I scream out at I feel a sharp pain in my left eye. The sharp metal punctures my eye, and all I can see is blackness from that side.

Before he can go any further, he lets out a gasp before falling over, gurgling. The pressure is released and the knife falls over next to me, and from my good eye, I can see Maya stabbing him in the head to finish him off.

"Maya…" I mumble, "Maya…"

"Brett!" She helps me up slowly, looking me in the eyes… er, eye. A feeling of warmth slowly seeps down the left side of my face. My vision blurs as I start to lose feeling. "I'm here, Brett. Oh, God. Stay with me."

"Maya…" is all I can let out before I see total blackness.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

Oh no. Oh my God, no. There he is, Blake's lifeless body on the ground. The knife that killed him sticks out of his chest. Next to him, Beta's equally lifeless corpse. All that remains is Maya trying her best to pick up Brett, blood seeping from his eye.

"Lilly. Lilly don't!" I warn her as she catches up to me. Her eyes go wide at my warning, prompting her to only force her way past me. Before I can even turn around, her gasp and shriek are all I need to hear.

"BLAKE!" She cries out as she grabs her dead husband's body. My heart breaks as her tears fall. Knowing all too well how it feels, I console her. She buries her face in my collar as the tears continue.

"I am so sorry, Lilly. He was a good man. Jesus Christ… They're gonna pay. For all this. We're gonna make them pay."

She doesn't say anything, just crying in my arms. I turn to Maya, trying her best to pick Brett up, who is at least unconscious.

"What happened? Is he breathing?"

"He got stabbed in the eye! I think he's still breathing." She tells me, desperately trying to get him up.

I let go of Lilly to help Maya with Brett. "Easy, I've got him." I tell her, picking him up. "Jesus, this is bad. Come on, we'll get him patched up."

"Ian…" I hear Lilly murmur from behind me. I look back at my friend, wiping her eyes as she finally stands up from her husband's body. I can see the fury and anger in her eyes, she wants blood. "I want her head for this."

"And you'll get it. Make no mistake, Lilly. This is just getting started. This means war."


	9. Eye of the Storm

**Chapter 9 - Eye of the Storm**

_Brett's POV_

A soft groan escapes my lips as I finally come to, a dim light shining in my face. I squint with my one good eye as I struggle to sit up. I look over to the other side of the room to see my girlfriend asleep in a chair. I struggle to my feet as I step across the room. My eye catches a view of my reflection in a mirror, I step back to get a look at the damage.

An exasperated sigh escapes my lips as I touch the gauze covering my left eye. Slowly, I lift it off the wound to get a look at the damage.

All I can see from my left side is blackness, as though I never took the gauze off to begin with. I hang my head, not bearing to see the empty void that makes up my left eye socket now. I wrap the gauze back around, making sure it's fully covered as I hear the door slowly open. Erika quickly steps into the room, surprised to see me up.

"Oh! You're up. How're you feeling?"

"I've had better days, I'll be honest." I grimace towards her, "Just give it to me straight about my eye, I'm blind in it aren't I?"

"The wounds you sustained in your eye, there was just no salvaging it. The stab wound was too deep, and to avoid infection we had to cut it out." I sharply inhale at her breaking the news, looking back up at myself in the mirror.

"You should consider yourself lucky," she adds, "If the stab was another inch deeper, it would've punctured the brain and killed you."

I still don't answer, looking back at my reflection. Does this make me lucky? That I didn't die? I get to live the rest of my life without an eye, but I didn't die, so I'm lucky?

"Brett," she puts her hand on my shoulder, "I know it might not seem like it, but you are lucky to be alive. Losing an eye is nothing compared to what could have been."

"How many died in the attack?" I ask her, not breaking my gaze with my reflection. "How many did we lose?"

"It looks like two people. Lilly's husband and then a little girl got caught up in the crossfire, but I don't know her name."

Why did I get to live? Why was I spared while a good man and an innocent girl were killed?

From the chair, I hear some stirring as Maya yawns awake. She blinks twice before smiling at me. "Thank God. Brett, I was so worried." She tells me as she wraps her arms around me, nuzzling into my collar.

"You're free to go whenever." Erika informs us, "You're also free to stay the night, if you'd like. It's your call."

I ponder it for a moment, weighing both the options, before glancing down at Maya, still nuzzled into me. "I think we'll head back. Thank you, Erika, for everything."

"Sure thing, Brett. I'll come by and check up on you tomorrow. In the meantime, get some rest. God knows you'll need it."

As Maya and I walk out, Erika stops me for one last thing. She reaches out, dropping an eye patch in my hand. "If you want to use it. It might be a more appealing option when you're out of the gauze than just walking around with it out like that, you know?"

I nod to her graciously as Maya and I head out and go down the hallway. From down the hall, echoes of a baby crying bounce off the walls. Maya opens the door leading outside as the both of us go out into the frigid nighttime air.

She lightly grabs my hand, our fingers interlocking with one another as my lips form a smile. The two of us stop to look each other eye to eye for a moment in the moonlight.

"You killed him, right?" I quietly ask her. "Beta?"

She nods, "He's dead. He can't hurt anyone anymore."

"Good. I'm glad. Fuck that guy."

"Alpha's still out there. Until she's dead, I won't feel safe."

"We'll get her. I'll even let you have dibs on finishing her off if that'll give you closure."

She sighs, "It would. But, I think someone else deserves it more. Lilly needs it more than I do."

I frown to her, "Yeah, you're right. God I feel bad. I know she terrorized us, but she didn't deserve that. No one does."

"It's why we have to end this now. While we still can."

"Then let's end this. Next chance we get, we put a round right between her eyes."

"Sounds like a plan." She softly smiles as I lean in for a kiss, which she returns.

* * *

_Ian's POV, Room 11_

Marissa Carley Sullivan. Born January 5th, 2018. Seven pounds, four ounces, and sixteen inches long. She's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, and seeing Kate hold her has given me a happiness unlike anything else. I almost forgot how it felt to welcome a child into the world. I know it's not easy, but I'm excited. Hopefully Chandler loves his little sister as much as Kate and I do.

Both my girls are both out cold right now, giving me some quiet time to talk with Lilly, who's been taking the death of her husband about as well as expected.

The date January 8, 2018 will be one of the happiest days of my life, of course. To her, it's likely one of the worst, right up there with that day in October of 2010 with the St. John family. That date means something to me, too. I think it's when it hit me that not only was the outbreak not ending anytime soon, but that it was starting to take its toll on people, changing them for the worse.

The St. John family was a family that lived on a dairy farm outside Macon, a few miles from where we were set up at the motor inn for a few months after the dead started walking. Brenda St. John and her boys, Danny and Andy, gave us food and charmed us with nothing short of complete Southern hospitality. Of course, this turned out to be somewhat of a facade as it was uncovered that they intended to kill us for food. Yep, cannibals. I'm sure that the family was pleasant and probably even really kind when the world was normal. I don't think they ate humans before the dead started walking. I don't even know what led them to start eating human meat in the first place. All I know is that the world changed people for the worse. All of us. It was around then that I realized things weren't going back to the way they were.

Why am I talking about this? It's simple really. Alpha and the Whisperers were all normal people at one point, I have to assume. They all had family, friends, lives and whatnot. This world changed, so we had to adapt in our own ways. For some of us, it meant building civilization back from scratch. To others, it meant finding a new way to live, and that's how the Whisperers came to be.

Lilly sits next to me, her puffy eyes not crying anymore, but from the look on her face I can tell she wants to.

"I never told you how Carley died, did I?" I sit down next to her.

She shakes her head, not saying a word.

"Five years ago, we were in Tennessee. We escaped a kidnapping and were heading North to find a community that was supposedly Shangri La. We came across this group, a bunch of Russians that weren't very friendly. We got into a shootout with them, and we managed to kill all of them except one. This kid, this fucking kid. His name was Arvo, I remember that much. He was a scrawny kid, maybe 18 or 19 years old, and his sister was one of the people killed. We decided against killing him for whatever reason, and while we were discussing what had just occurred, he shot her. One shot, right in the chest. She was dead in minutes."

She looks back at me with wide eyes. That's really where I want to end off the story, but something inside me gets me to continue. "I was in a bad place mentally for a while after that. Kenny has lost someone, too. His girlfriend Sarita got bit a couple nights before and didn't make it very long. He was lashing out at us and I was so scared, I ditched the group. I acted on an impulse that almost got Clem killed. I have no clue how or why she forgave me for that. I spent the next few years in a community kind enough to take me in, but without Carley, I may as well have been on my own. Losing a spouse is never easy. It gets less difficult. You start to become numb to the pain that you felt in that moment. The look on their face when they took their last breaths starts to fade away from memory. You can try your best to remember the good times, but the nightmares won't go away for a bit. There's not much you can do for them but keep on moving forward. It's what they'd want you to do. It's what he'd want you to do."

Completely out of character, Lilly pounces on me with a hug. I have no choice but to hug her back, comforting her as the tears start falling again. My heart breaks thinking about it all, knowing the feeling too well. But, like I said, it does get better. It gets easier. It just takes time.

"I'm gonna kill her. If it's the last thing I ever do, I'm gonna make sure that rotten bitch is killed. What her people did to mine is unforgivable and she needs to pay."

"And she will. We'll get her. You have my word." I assure her. "Now, come on. You should get some sleep. I can set you up back at my place."

"Thank you…" she whispers quietly through the tears.

* * *

_Brett's POV_

The door opens behind me as I reach for the knob leading into my apartment. I turn around slightly and see Violet stepping out into the hallway. Knowing her feelings towards me, I ignore her and walk inside with Maya, not saying a word to her.

A hand on my shoulder stops me in my tracks. I turn back around to find Violet looking back at me, a soft smile curled on her lips. Confused, I turn to Maya.

"Get yourself comfortable inside. I'll be in in a few."

"Sure thing." She kisses me on the cheek before waking inside, leaving Violet and myself alone.

Neither Violet nor myself say anything at first, looking at each other with both of our good eyes. It's painfully awkward being like this, and the silence doesn't help either.

Thankfully, she breaks the silence with something I would've never expected from her. "You were right. You were right about the Delta, and I'm sorry."

Curiously, I glance back at her. "Earlier, you were completely against this. Why the change of heart?"

She sighs, looking down at the ground. "I couldn't get over what happened. I don't know if I can get over what happened. But, she has people to defend. Louis told me she was telling the truth about having a family and everything, having a community of good people to help, and fighting a war she needed to win. He also told me about how you threw yourself out there against the big guy. It cost you your eye, but who knows how many people you saved down the road? You truly believe in these people, and I know better than to not trust your judgement."

That last bit gets a legitimate smile out of me. "I'm glad you see it, Vi. There are people worth saving there. And I know that they did awful things to you, and you have every right to be upset for that. The truth of the matter is, the people we're fighting are far worse and they need our help."

"I trust you, Brett. Ever since that day we rescued Clem and AJ from their wreck. You care for your people and just want things to be calm. I don't trust her. Not yet. The past is still a little too raw for me, but if you trust her, then I can get behind helping them."

"Thank you, Violet. You're making the right decision."

"I'm sorry for not seeing it sooner." She mumbles quietly. I shake my head in dismissal.

"Don't apologize for that. It was valid. You had your reasons. No hard feelings?"

"None." She smiles back. "Let's finish this."

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"She's got your eyes." I tell her as my two girls lay in the hospital bed, our daughter curled up in her arms, fast asleep. "That hazel color that I fell in love with the moment I met you."

I can see her blush a bit through the dim lighting as she pulls her closer. "It's worth the months of pain. She's perfect."

"Of course she is, she's your daughter." I remark to my wife who, despite blushing, rolls her eyes.

"You're so corny."

I may be corny but I'm also honest.

"Do you want to hold her?" Kate asks me.

Smiling, I shake my head, "Nah, she looks really comfortable. She can sleep for now."

"How's Lilly doing? I could hear you guys talking outside, she sounded miserable."

"Well, she is. But, she's handling Blake's death about as expected. I've got her set up back at home and Chandler and her little girl are both safe.

"Thank God." She sighs in relief, "I feel awful for her. She was turning things around so well and then this."

"If there's someone that'll be able to overcome that, it's Lilly. She's a tough one."

"Yeah, but still. It's one thing to be tough. It's another to lose a spouse and have to deal with that. I mean… I know how it feels, I guess, but I was over David. It was practically like we weren't even married at that point. I was so emotionally disconnected that when I saw him dead, it didn't phase me. Is that weird or awful or anything else? Like, is it weird that I felt bad, but I wasn't strung up on it?"

I shake my head. "I don't think so. It was 4 years. You thought he was dead already, and you moved on. You had to move on."

She sighs, lightly rocking our daughter in her arms. "I don't think I ever loved him. I was barley out of college when I met him, and I think I just fell for him because he was an attractive man with a sexy life. This big macho military man swooped me off my feet and next thing I know, he and I are getting married and I have two stepkids."

"You never thought of leaving him?" I ask her, and she gives me a conflicted look.

"I mean, the thought would come up." She admits, "We'd have a fight, and in the back of my mind a voice would tell me I had a way out. But then, I'd think about Gabe and Mari and I'd tough it out." I smile at the mention of my stepson and what would've been my stepdaughter. Even if Gabe and I didn't get off to a good start whatsoever, I'm glad he's come around. He's a good kid and I knew it the moment I met him.

"I never thought I'd be a mother." She adds, "It seemed so stressful and I didn't think it was something I wanted. I didn't think I'd be good enough. But seeing the happy little family we have right now, I know it was the right choice."

"I was scared when you told me you wanted to start a family with me. It was the same conversation I had with Carley before she died, and I got nervous. But I can say that two kids later, starting a family was the best thing I've ever done. Bar none."

"I love you, Ian."

"I love you too, Kate."

What a fucking day.

**Not an incredibly exciting chapter, mostly expositionary stuff. I wanted to get this up because I've had most of it done for some time now and a mix of general laziness and lack of time kept me from really finishing this chapter. I hope I can try and get back into the swing of things and try and post more consistently, so I'll try and keep writing and posting more consistently going forward. I'll see you guys when I finish this next chapter.**


	10. Escalation

**Chapter 10 - Escalation**

_Brett's POV, The Day, Midday_

Last night was a fucking nightmare. That might even be putting it lightly. I'm not sure what the Whisperers were thinking by sending that attack, but there's no doubt in my mind that they don't want peace. It's beyond that at this point. It's become clear that they're only going to stop attacking us if we're dead, or they are.

I don't think I need to say which side I'm on here.

This morning we had a service for Blake and the little girl that died. Her name was Grace, a two year old girl whose parents joined Richmond before Ian took over. I felt awful, knowing Ian's son isn't much older and Lilly's daughter isn't much younger.

I still don't feel lucky about merely surviving Beta attacking me. Why should I? Is death really such a bad thing at this point? A release from the stress and pain of life nowadays, it can't be all that bad, right?

Of course, I still have Maya and Benji and the others, so that's why I keep fighting. I won't leave them until my time really is up. For them, I hope I have as much time as I can get, but all I ask is that when I go, it's quick and clean. But that's not really up for me to decide, is it?

I don't want to spend my life sitting around moping at the fact I've lost an eye. It happened. I need to move forward if I'm going to get anywhere. So that's why I voluntarily went hunting today. No rest day, no time off, nothing. Back to business as usual because that's all I want. Business as usual.

Logan and Cain both survived the attack unscathed. They both offered to come along the hunting party to get an idea of what life's like around here. They seem like good guys, but they're pretty quiet. Maya, of course, is here too. After last night, there is no chance in Hell I'm leaving her sight. It's definitely different being with Maya than Brody. Not to knock Brody or anything but with her anxiety, I couldn't see her leaving the walls of Richmond at all, especially with the Whisperers. Maya, on the other hand, has the confidence and whatnot to go out and explore the area. She welcomes the fear and uncertainty of everything in a way I really admire. I will always love Brody for the time we had together, but I'm all about Maya now. I hope she forgives me for that.

Ian was uneasy about letting me go back out so shortly after last night. I didn't care. I wanted things to be back to normal. Well, not normal normal but to the point where it feels like a normal day in the apocalypse. I won't let me losing an eye keep me out of contributing to Richmond, and I won't let it hold me back in life.

I didn't see Benji this morning. Louis told me he and Erika went out somewhere in town earlier in the morning and he hadn't seen the two since. Well, good for them. I think it's for the better that Benji doesn't see me like this, because I'm a fucking mess. He knows what happened, so maybe he's avoiding me, too. I don't blame him if he is. I'd avoid me for a while.

The eye patch Erika gave me is gonna take some getting used to. Granted, having one eye is gonna take some getting used to. But, like I said, I'm not letting this hold me back. Not with everything on the line. If something were to happen and I wasn't out there to stop it, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, especially if something happened to Benji or Maya. After all, they're really all I have left in this world. I don't want to think about how I'd be if I lost both of them.

Jesus brought some more people from the Hilltop that I haven't met yet. He promised to help defend Richmond and he delivered. Some 50 people are here to help us and it makes things feel a lot safer.

"See that walker over there?" Maya asks us, pointing to a lone walker standing in a clearing a bit away, looking up at the sky. We all nod as she draws an arrow, lines up her shots, and, with a quick breath, releases.

The walker collapses face first, the arrow sticking out of the back of its head. Impressed, I glance back at my girlfriend, speechless that she hit her target from so far away.

"You really know how to use that thing. Logan compliment her, getting a grin from her.

"I did archery when I was a kid. It's all practice." She tells him as the four of us walk over to retrieve the arrow.

"I guess the world ending helped with that too, lurkers and whatnot." Cain adds. Maya nods in agreement.

"It's one way to have fun nowadays, that's for sure."

"Benji and I used to take turns doing target practice with his crossbow while we were traveling. It was fun. He usually beat me, but I never made it easy for him." I mention with a widening smile. He'd kick my ass every time, but I'll never admit it to him. Besides, my skills with a rifle are better.

Were better. It's hard to aim with one eye, especially when that was your dominant eye that you lost. I have a feeling he'd beat me pretty handily now. But again, I'll never admit that to him.

"So, where are you guys from?" Maya asks, trying to learn more.

"I'm originally from Pennsylvania, up by Pittsburgh. At least, that's where I lived before the outbreak." Logan answers. "My family was moving South when things got too bad up there, it's where I met Cain and his family. Things were actually kinda decent, until they suddenly weren't." He ends off on a somber note.

"I was from Tennessee." Cain tells us. "My sister and I lived outside of Memphis with our folks. It was nice and quiet, but that was all the past. My group met Logan, his mom, and his sister a couple years ago. They were good people."

"What was your sisters' name?" I ask Logan respectfully, but trying to learn more.

He frowns, looking at the ground with an upset scowl. "Her name was Lydia. She was a year younger than me. The Whisperers took her the same day they took the rest of our group."

"We'll get them. They'll regret attacking us." I promise him adamantly. He nods, determined.

Maya pulls the arrow from the walkers skull, a sickening squelching sound coming from the carcass as the arrow is dislodged. She freezes, catching my glance.

"What's wrong?"

She shushes me as she turns towards Logan and Cain, looking past both the boys. "You hear that?"

I shake my head, staying silent, but all I can hear is the sound of the wind and shaking tree branches. I turn to Logan and Cain, looking equally confused as me, before looking back at Maya, who walks ahead.

Silently, the three of us follow each other as the noise starts to hit us. Guttural moans echoing off the trees, a lot of them. It quickly grows louder and louder as we walk further towards the source, and the feeling of uneasiness settles into me.

"What are we doing? That sounds like a massive herd." Logan asks Maya, "Shouldn't we get back to Richmond and warn Ian?"

Maya shakes her head. "Not yet. I wanna see something."

She leads us further towards the source of the sound, weapons drawn in case.

The edge of the woods come in view, we walk up to the cliffside at the edge and the crater comes into view.

Thousands of walkers, stumbling about the vast crater, no way for them to exit.

"This is it. This is the Whisperer stockpile." I say to Maya as I look out further, "This is where they keep all their walkers."

"Let's go. This place is creeping me out." Cain murmurs out loud.

Maya and I glance at each other, nodding in agreement. "We have to tell Ian we found it. This is huge." She adds.

A flash of orange catches my eye from my right, in the trees. I freeze, trying to catch another glance. Sure enough, she emerges from behind another tree, forcing a walker into the pit.

It's her, Gamma.

Another Whisperer walks up next to her, a shorter one. I think it's another girl, but I can't be sure.

"You see them?" Maya asks me, and I nod back to her.

"Let's get 'em."

* * *

The leaves, still wet, don't crunch at all as we quietly walk over, using the trees as cover while keeping the two in sight. Maya and I both draw our handguns, quietly approaching the two overlooking the walker crowd.

Like when I interrogated Minnie a few months ago, I quietly step behind Gamma, putting the muzzle of my gun to the back of her head.

"The two of you are gonna answer my questions, and maybe I won't make you join your friends down there, deal?" I growl to the both of them. Gamma slowly nods while the other quickly does the same, hyperventilating as Maya holds her down.

"How many are there of you?" I ask my first question. Both girls stay quiet at first, causing me to dig the gun deeper into the back of her neck. "Answer me!"

"There's sixty! There's sixty of us!" The girl Maya holds up gasps out, and I smirk.

"Okay, next question. Where's your camp? It's gotta be near here. Where is it?"

"It's a mile to the West! Right off the main road! Please don't kill us." She whimpers.

"Stop." Gamma warns her quietly, "Stay calm."

"What do you think?" I turn to Maya, inadvertently lowering my weapon. "Is there anything else we can get out of them?"

"I don't know, but I know I wouldn't mind adding two more to my count." She coldly responds, showing a more sadistic side of her. I love her.

"Please! Please don't I'll tell you anything you want!" The younger girl pleads to us.

"She could be useful. We could take them prisoner, maybe even use them as bargaining chips." Logan suggests, Cain nodding in agreement.

"Maybe we could do that. Maybe they'd even agree to stop the attacks." The boy adds.

I turn back to Gamma as an elbow flies in, striking my cheek and knocking my gun out of my hand.

I look up to see Gamma sprinting away, the other Whisperer wrestling free from Maya's grasp and doing the same as I gather myself, picking up my gun, and aiming out.

Several shots are popped deep into the woods, and just barely, I see one connect with the lower back of the unnamed Whisperer, dropping her to the ground. Her pained screams are the only thing making me sure I didn't kill her.

Before she can do much, we all catch up to her, still writhing on the ground in pain. I pin her to the ground, ripping her walker mask off and pointing the muzzle of my gun right between her deep green eyes. Like other Whisperers, her face is caked in some sort of dirt or mud, but I can tell she isn't much younger than me or Logan.

"Please don't. I won't do anything, just don't kill me!" She begs, tears filling her eyes.

"What are you guys doing? What are you planning for Richmond?" I demand.

"I-I don't know!" She admits, "I don't know what they have planned. They have something, that's all I know!"

"Like what?"

"I don't know! I told you!"

"Fucking useless!" I snarl at her. "What about the attack on Richmond last night? Were you there? Did you help?"

She nods somberly, "I didn't want to, I was forced to. They'd have killed me if I didn't."

"Funny, cause I wanna kill you for doing it." I mutter to her, "Your people killed two of mine yesterday, it only seems right we get one back, eh?"

"No! Please! Anything!" She pleads with all her might. "I'll do anything! Just don't kill me!"

"Brett, don't." Logan tells me, "It's not worth it. Just bring her back with us."

I don't say anything, looking right in her eyes. Logan's right. We could use her. She could give us everything she knows. We could end this mess in a few hours. We'd be done, and everything would be good again.

But last night made it personal. Blake is dead. I lost an eye. My home was attacked. Someone needs to pay.

It's going to be her.

"No." I growl as I squeeze the trigger, a crimson mess staining the dirt below me as the girl's brains litter the ground. Her blank eyes stare back up at me as Logan and Cain look back at me with shock.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Logan grills me, "She surrendered. She wasn't a threat. You murdered her!"

"Just like her people murdered ours!" I fire back at him. "They're pieces of human garbage that kill for sport. Fuck them."

"You're no better than them. You just did the same thing they do. You just executed a girl for no reason other than the fact you wanted to fill your bloodlust."

"They killed your group yesterday." Maya notes, "Why are you pitying then? Don't you want revenge?"

"Not like this." Cain shakes his head, "Not by killing more people. You're a killer. You're a fucking monster." He hisses in my face.

"Back. Off." I warn him. "I'm not a monster. I kill because I want to defend the place I call home. I don't kill for sport, and I don't have a bloodlust. I just want to keep my friends safe."

"Tell that to the girl whose brains you just blew out." He growls at me before turning back for the main road. Logan follows suit, bumping me to the side without saying a word.

* * *

_Richmond, Ian's POV_

Lilly left for the Delta this morning, unable to bear the thought of leaving her people alone any longer. She has some tragic news to break to her people. Their leader is dead. Blake is gone. They're vulnerable for now, and the Whisperers are only going to want more blood.

She said she'd come back later tonight, with some people to defend her. A private security detail, if you will. I told her that if she wanted to stay at the Delta where she'd feel safer, I'd understand, but she insisted on coming back. She said that she felt safer here, so I guess that's that.

Kate's doing well after our daughter's birth. I brought both my girls back home this morning, making our home feel a little more full. Chandler, as we hoped, loves his baby sister. He even gave her one of his stuffed animals to play with, even though she isn't really playing with anything yet. Frankly, being a father of two has been easier than I would've expected. But, then again, it's my first day.

Jesus came in incredibly clutch for us and brought over fifty people to help defend Richmond. I haven't had the chance to meet any of them yet, but they look dependable and if there's one person I can trust for something like this, it's Jesus.

A knock at my door gets me to slowly rise from the couch, Marissa in hand as Chandler and Kate sleep upstairs. My baby girl is dead asleep, too, but she looked so comfortable that I decided to sit on the couch and let her sleep in my arms.

I slowly open to door with one hand, holding my baby carefully in my other arm like a football, as I see Clem and Gabe's smiling faces.

"Hey, you two. What's going on?" I ask the both of them quietly.

"We wanted to see the baby!" AJ exclaims enthusiastically, causing Clem to shush him.

"AJ, we went over this. You need to stay quiet around the baby. She'll get scared or wake up." She quietly scolds him. I chuckle quietly before inviting them in and closing the door behind them.

"How's Kate doing?" Clem asks as she and AJ both sit on the couch.

"She's good. We came back from this morning and she's sleeping upstairs with Chandler. The birth went perfectly, according to Eleanor. I've got Jason running day-to-day operations with Jesus while I help Kate take care of the baby."

"Glad to hear. How's the baby been?"

"She's been rather mellow, actually. I hope that nothing's wrong. She's only cried a handful of times and most of the time, it's not very long."

"Did I cry a lot as a baby?" AJ asks, curiously. I think back to when he was born, but can't remember very much.

"I remember when you were born, you cried a lot. But, that's all I was really there for. Clem and I got separated a few days after you were born, buddy."

"You were such a crier." Clem smiles to AJ, "You cried almost every night. You almost got me killed a couple times."

Shocked, AJ's jaw drops. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to get you killed, Clem."

Continuing smiling, she puts a hand on AJ's shoulder. "I was joking, kiddo. It's completely normal for babies to cry. You never almost got me killed because of it."

Unamused, he pouts. "Don't joke like that. It's not funny."

"So, what're you two up to today?"

"Waiting for Gabe to get back, I guess. I wanted to go hunting with Brett and Maya, but they left before I could join them." Clem shrugs, leaning back on the couch.

"I'd avoid him for a bit." I warn her, "He's been in a real bad mood after last night. I think he's a bit on edge right now. It might be a good thing to give him some space."

"I heard what happened. It's just like what happened with Kenny." She shudders at the thought of what Bill Carver did to our old friend. It's been so long, but seeing his empty eye socket like that has been burned into my brain like a cattle iron.

"Exactly, and we both know how that turned out."

"Not. Good." She says with emphasis on each word. You're right, Clem. Not good at all.

A long silence follows as the three of us sit around, staring into the blank nothingness that makes up my living room.

"Her middle name's Carley." I tell Clem, who smiles widely at this. "I thought it'd be a nice way of honoring her and everything she meant to me."

"I miss her so much. She was one of the nicest people I've ever met."

"Me too, Clem. She meant the world to me."

"She'd be proud of you. Everything you accomplished after she died."

"Likewise." I say back to her, causing her to blush a bit. "I still can't believe you're that same little girl I met at the drugstore in Macon. That little nine year old girl turned into a badass survivalist and one of the toughest people I know."

"I couldn't have done it without you and everyone else along the way. Lee, Kenny, everyone."

"It's on us to keep fighting for everyone who died to get us this far. It's the main reason why I didn't end it all after Carley died. It would've made everything I did to keep us alive meaningless." I admit to her solemnly. I look down at my daughter, sleeping peacefully in my arms, with a wide smile. "I'd have missed out on meeting Kate, becoming a father, and everything else that's happened in the last five years. I'll never say I'm glad she died, because that's wrong, but I like to think I made the best of a fucked-up situation."

"I never really hated you for leaving." She admits to me, much to my surprise. "I mean, I was angry, I was upset, but most of all, I was scared. I was scared because I trusted you for so long, and then you were gone. When we found you and Kate and everyone else in the scrapyard, I was mad, but I was more relieved than anything. I finally had someone I could trust again after Kenny died."

"I would've hated me for what I did." I tell her. "I made the wrong call. It was selfish and it could've killed you. I'm-"

She stops me, "Save it. It happened. We're fine."

That shuts me up real quick.

"We're good. It's the past. You've more than made up for it." She reaffirms. I nod to her confidently.

Another long silence follows, not really sure of what to say. I hate these so much.

"Wanna hold her?" I ask Clem who, with a wide smile, reaches out as I hand her my daughter.

It brings back memories of when she held AJ for the first time. She carefully rocks her in her arms, just like she did with him five years ago.

"You're a natural." I smile to her quietly, "Granted, you're practically a mother already."

Some time ago, thinking about that day would bring nothing but bad memories. Seeing Rebecca dead, having my own wife bleed out, and the thought of being shot at would bring back the nightmares. But now, I can look back and see some of the good things, albeit few and small, that came from that day. Losing Carley will always have a sting, but seeing Clem being nurturing towards my own daughter is a sight to behold. It's something I took for granted that day, but Clem is going to be an amazing mother figure for AJ, and maybe even her own kids in the future.

"Do you two feel safe here? In Richmond?" I ask the both of them.

They both nod, a little confused.

"I'm just wondering if we should beef up security more. Last night's attack shook me up a bit, and I want to make sure that doesn't happen again."

"I feel safer here than anywhere else, really." Clem tells me, "This place is strong, fortified, and armed to the teeth. I really don't know how much better you could defend the place."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. But if there's a way to improve it, I've got to talk it over with Javi. We can never be too safe, especially now."

My front door knocks once again as the three of us turn towards it. I walk over quietly, opening the door to see Brett and Maya.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"Ian, we found something big. Can we talk in private?" Brett asks me. I look back at Clem and AJ, still sitting in my living room with my daughter.

"Clem, AJ, don't leave my house until either Kate wakes up or I come back. Don't answer the door for anyone other than me, Javi, Eleanor, or Jason. I'll try to be back soon, alright?"

Both of them nod to me in confirmation as I lead the two off to the meeting place.

* * *

_The Meeting Place_

I lay the map of the area down on the table. My city is outlined in red, similarly with the Delta to the North and the Hilltop to the South.

"What do you got for me, guys?" I ask the two of them. The couple examine the map for a few moments before Brett points at the main road, about two thirds of the way North to the Delta. He then drags his finger a couple inches towards the East.

"Around there. We found the Whisperers' walker stockpile." He tells me, much to my surprise, "There's thousands of them walking around a crater. Their camp isn't too far from there, either."

"How did you find this?" I ask them, amazed.

"We came across it while we were out. We thought it was a herd, but when we went to check it out, we found it." Maya informs me.

"Shit, you two. This is amazing. Good work."

"Their camp is close, right off the main road." Brett adds, pointing in an area West of the walker stockpile. "They've got something coming for us."

"How do you know?"

"We caught a couple of them off guard, and one of them spilled the beans. She didn't know much, though. Nothing about what they had planned, just that they have something."

"And since I didn't see this Whisperer with you guys, I'm guessing she's either dead or she escaped, right?"

Brett nods. "Dead."

I sigh, "I would've liked to see her back here, maybe use her for negotiating, but I guess that's not an option anymore. Oh well, it is what it is. Great work."

The two of them leave the room, leaving me, alone with the map. I take one last look over the map, marking the points of interest Brett showed, and proudly staring at it.

"Your days are numbered, Alpha." I chuckle to myself. We've got her. This is it.

"_Sir, Lilly's back. She's brought some people with her._" Fern radios in from the front gate.

"Roger that, let them in. I'll be out front in a sec."

"_Yes, sir._"

As I gather my things, I reach for my walkie one last time, dialing it to my second-in-command's channel.

"Jason, you there?"

"_Aye, boss. Is everything okay?_"

"It's bloody fantastic, mate. Wait till you hear what I've got."

* * *

"Welcome back!" I greet my friend as she hands me her daughter before stepping off her horse. "How'd things go back at the Delta?"

"About as well as you could expect." She tells me grimly. "It's falling apart, Ian. The Delta is hanging on by a thread."

"Lilly, you know we have your back. And, even better, we've got some new information about them. Their main camp and walker stockpile. We got it."

"You're kidding." She replies, shocked, "How did you-"

"Brett and Maya. They came across it. Their days are numbered, Lilly. We can finally end this mess once and for all." She graciously hugs me in excitement.

"Welcome back, Lilly." Jason greets her as he walks to my side, "Boss told you the good news, yeah?"

"Yes, Jason." She smiles widely, "This is fantastic."

"I told you, we're gonna make them pay. Your husband's death won't be for nothing."

"Damn right it won't be." A taller, older blonde woman approaches us from Lilly's group. "I'm Sheila Graves. I'm the head of Lilly's security detail while she's here. And this is Nathan Frost." She motions to a man, looking a bit younger than myself, clean-shaven with a short, dirty blond haircut. "Nathan and I will be in charge of protecting Lilly and her daughter."

"Richmond is willing to provide whatever you need, Miss Graves." I tell her, getting a smile from her.

"Glad to hear, Mr. Sullivan. We'd appreciate all the help we can get."

"I'll introduce you to my brother in law, Javier, who's in charge of security. He can help with everything. In the meantime, we should probably get you all settled in."

I lead them down the road, to the empty apartments. This is all coming together nicely. We're ending this mess soon. I can feel it.

"Ian!" I hear a voice call my name from down the road. I turn to see Jesus waving, leading a group of people throughout the city.

"Glad I finally ran into you, Jesus. It's been a crazy day."

"I would certainly think so. How's Kate and the baby?"

"Both are doing great. Kate's been a total rock star and Marissa is just wonderful, man."

"Fantastic." He grins to me as he turns to his people, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce Ian Sullivan, the leader of this community." I give a respectful wave to everyone.

"Hello, everyone. I really appreciate you all coming here to help defend my city. As I'm sure you're aware, my people are under threat by a group known as the Whisperers. My friend, Lilly Woodson, runs a community to the North of here that has also been under threat by these people. Now, and I can't stress this enough, these people are as dangerous as you've heard. Be careful around here. Outside these walls, they can be anywhere. They're bold enough to attack us directly, so if they find you out there, they'll attack you, too. Stay safe while you're out there, and make sure you're armed at all times." Some quiet murmurs follow, so I try and lighten the mood a bit. "With that being said, I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and hopefully getting to know you a bit better in the time being."

As the group starts to disperse, a younger boy, maybe around Brett's age, walks up to me. "Aren't you the Ian Sullivan that played for Georgia? Before the outbreak?"

"That would be me." I grin as the boy steps back, starstruck.

"Woah… You were so good!" He exclaims, "Hey! Jacob! Zoe! I was right!" He says to two other kids, around the same age. The two of them, a pale boy and a darker-skinned girl, run over to him. "He's the guy that played for Georgia."

I chuckle a bit as I reminisce about my football days, "Those were the days. I can't believe it's almost been a decade since I last played."

"I was at the game where you guys stomped Central Michigan." The boy, Jacob, tells me. "That game was great."

Kid, you've got no idea how great it was.

I blush a bit, impressed that he can remember that far back. That day was pretty amazing. A big win, a big party, and I met Carley that night. "That win against Central Michigan was one of the best days of my life. I'm amazed you can remember something like that, though."

"When Jesus mentioned you, Dustin thought for sure you were the football player. Jacob and I thought for sure it was just a coincidence. What are the odds a professional athlete would be in charge here?" The girl, Zoe, says.

"Well, I was never actually a professional, but that's a long story. Also, my brother-in-law, Javi, played in the MLB for a few years."

All three look back at me, absolutely amazed. Not gonna lie, it feels good. Of course, I've had people recognize me throughout my travels. Like Edith and Conrad and…

Carver.

No, don't think about him. He's nothing. He was always nothing. He will always be nothing.

I'm someone. He's no one.

"Sir? Is everything alright?" The boy Jacob asks. I snap out of it and nod to them.

"Sorry, guys. Lot on my mind right now, everything that's going on." I tell the two of them.

"Oh there you are!" A woman's voice calls out. "Christ sake, Jacob. I can never find you!" The woman, about my age, maybe a little younger, says to him as she approaches us, holding a young child about Chloe's age.

"Sorry, Maggie." He sheepishly smiles, "Jesus was showing us around, and I got carried away. I was right though, he IS the football player!"

Impressed, she looks at me. "So you're a Georgia boy?"

I nod back to her, "Yep. Born and raised in Savannah. Ian Sullivan."

"Maggie Greene," she reaches out her one free hand to shake mine, "I see you've already met my boyfriend, Jacob."

Boyfriend? Jesus Christ, this kid is a decade younger than her. But you know what? Not my place.

"And this is my son, Herschel." She nods towards the boy in her arms, slowly nodding off.

The question has to be asked if the boy is his, too. I'm not going to ask but that is a question I need to see answered.

"So, you're from Georgia too?" I ask her.

"Sure am. Just South of Atlanta. My daddy had a farm out there where me, my brother, and my sister lived. It was pretty nice, until it all suddenly wasn't, you know?"

"All too well." I tell her, "You go from the NFL to fighting the undead in an instant and everything changes real quick."

"It's incredible, really. Even when this was just starting, I was able to meet my first husband, Glenn, maybe a month or two in. Things didn't seem all that bad for a while. Maybe we were all naive to think this was going to be over so quick."

I wonder if it's the same Glenn I knew. Wouldn't that be something?

"I think we were all hoping it would be over soon. But here we are, almost a decade later and no closer to the way things were. I must say, though, it's made for a hell of a story."

"Here's hoping to living to tell it fully."

Thinking back, I've been out for a while. I should make sure Marissa and everyone else is doing good back at home.

"I should probably be going now. My baby girl is at home with a sitter and my wife's probably dead asleep still. Nice to meet you all. I'm sure I'll see you around at some point."

I give them a respectful wave goodbye before heading back off to my house.

I walk back in to find Clem and AJ sitting on the couch, Marissa still in Clem's arms, with AJ reading a magazine, quietly sounding out words.

"Hey, you two. I appreciate you guys watching her. Was she any trouble?"

"None." Clem shakes her head. "She was just perfect."

"Awesome. You guys are good to go. I'll hold her until Kate gets up."

Clem gently hands her off to me as the two of them walk out my front door. It's my turn to plop down on my couch, Marissa stirs lightly as she wakes up. I rock her lightly, taking in the ambiance of the sunlight reflecting off the dust particles and the sounds she makes.

When you think about it, this really has been a hell of a story for me, hasn't it?

* * *

_Brett's POV_

_His apartment_

I turn the knob leading into the apartment, walking into a quiet room. Louis sits on the couch, Kenzie asleep in his lap.

"Hey, man. How're you doing?" He asks quietly.

I give him a small smile, "I'm doing pretty good, Louis."

"How's the… you know?"

"It's taking some getting used to, but I guess things could be worse."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that." Benji's voice says from down the hall. I turn to see him hobble out of our room on his prosthetic, wide smile on his face.

My smile reflects his as he walks over to me.

"You've been avoiding me today, haven't you?"

I know I can't lie to him. He knows I have. I simply look down, avoiding his gaze. "I didn't want you to see me like this. I'm a mess."

Benji wraps his arms around me as I feel my arms to the same to him, "You're my brother, Brett. You've been by my side since the beginning. I don't care if you have one eye, two eyes, or a fucking million. I go to sleep comfortable knowing I've got my brother out there. Besides, you saved my life. I owe it to you that much to tolerate the fact you lost an eye taking on a guy way bigger than you."

"I guess it does make for a cool story." I chuckle, "I'll just omit the part where he threw me like a rag doll."

"You do that, brother. You do that."

"Well that was just adorable. Brothers reconciling over what turned out to not be a big deal after all." Louis remarks, as Maya slaps his arm.

"It's not not a big deal. He lost a fucking eye, Louis. That's a big deal."

He raises his hands in a no-harm way, "I just meant that Benji wasn't upset by it. I didn't mean that him losing an eye was nothing."

"It's fine, Louis." I assure him, rolling my eyes. I love him, but he has the common sense of an acorn sometimes.

"Hi Brett." Kenzie smiles as she slowly wakes up from her nap. "Louis told me what happened. I'm so glad you're okay."

"Thanks, Kenz. I'm fine. It could've been a lot worse."

"I'm just glad you're still around. We all care a lot about you, so if you died back there, I don't wanna think about it."

"Then don't. I'm not going anywhere. We're all gonna make it out of this alive and well, and we'll all have our happily ever afters, yeah?"

"Hell yeah!" Louis exclaims. "A happily ever after! I'll be King Louis, sitting in my castle as the world is my oyster."

Kenzie clears her throat, and Louis's tan cheeks might've turned a bit red as he saves himself.

"Of course, sitting next to me is my Queen McKenzie."

We all get a good laugh out of that.

This is nice. Just the five of us, hanging out, no worries in the world. No Whisperers, no walkers, just me and the four people I care about most in the world.

Louis slowly gets up as Kenzie adjusts herself on the couch. He walks over to the fridge, pulling out a large bottle full of clear liquid.

"What's that?" Maya asks as a wicked smile forms on his lips.

"This is vodka. It's a nice day, I figured we'd get a little drunk and make tonight a little more interesting." He cheerily cracks the bottle open and takes the first swig.

"Two questions-" Benji says to him, "First, where did you find a bottle of vodka and second, do you think it's good idea for us to be drinking right now?"

"Relax, Benji. Think about it, if the world wasn't totally fucked up, we'd all be college kids. College kids drank alcohol and had fun. Who's to say we can't at least have a little fun. And, to answer your first question, Violet found it in her fridge. She didn't want it, so she gave it to me. Come on, what's the worst that can happen?"

Maya grabs the bottle from his hands, screwing off the cap and smelling the liquid inside, flinching at the strong smell before taking a quick drink. She passes the bottle to me and I also smell it. A strong smell of alcohol fills my nostrils, forcing me to recoil back.

But something about this speaks out to me. It beckons me to give it a try. I put the cool glass bottle to my lips and tip my head backwards.

The liquid burns my throat and chest as I let out a cough, not expecting it to be that strong. The burning sensation in my chest grows stronger, but it feels good. I take another drink, this time chugging a bit before my body has enough. The burn grows a bit, but feels even better. Maya and Louis give me a cheer in support as I hand the bottle to my brother, who begrudgingly accepts it and takes a swig.

He hands the bottle to Kenzie, the smallest and youngest of the group, who looks uneasily at her boyfriend and sister.

"Kenz, you don't have to drink if you don't want." Maya tells her. Louis nods in agreement. Kenzie looks at the bottle for a second, weighing her options.

With a shrug, she puts her lips to the bottle and chugs, much to all of our mutual surprise. Like a drinking pro, she pounds down a considerable amount without a second thought before handing it to Louis, making sure to give him a sloppy kiss after.

Louis, shocked, accepts the bottle from her, but continues to just look at her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fuckin great Louis! Let's party!" She lets out a loud cheer as Louis laughs heartily.

The bottle passes around the room continuously as I can feel it taking over. Each drink goes down smoother and smoother, and each drink blurs my vision a little more.

Maybe an hour later, I'm drunk. Not that I wasn't well before then, but it hits me that I am plastered. I slowly stumble to my feet, the entire room spinning, as I slam my face into the bedroom door, causing Maya to obnoxiously laugh, equally drunk.

She and I both stumble/fall into bed as our arms wrap around one another, our tongues soon in each others' mouths.

In the faint moonlight, I see her break off the kiss as she starts to shed her clothing. A drunk giggle escaping both of us, I start to do the same as I can tell where things are going.

She pulls me into another kiss as a night of lustful bliss soon begins.

**Chapter 10 of The Enemy of My Enemy is here. I'll be honest, this chapter went off the original plan in quite a few ways just looking at things I changed earlier in the story plan and plans for the future chapters. I'd like to thank TWD Jacob 11 and for his OCs, Jacob and Dustin, as well as Deadly Ice 88 for his OC, Zoe. I'm gonna try and get the next chapter out in a few weeks, as my college closed campus due to the Coronavirus, and I'll have a fair amount of free time to work with. Frankly, all I really have going on is spending time with my girlfriend and classwork, so I SHOULD have another chapter up in a few weeks. The story is about to really pick up in the next few chapters, so hopefully you're looking forward to it as much as I am. Stay cool everyone :)**


	11. Bloody Sunday

**Chapter 11 - Bloody Sunday**

_The Next Morning, Brett's POV_

Thump thump.

My head pounds like a drum as I come to in my bed. Still dizzy from last night's festivities, I slowly sit up, a certain stillness fills the air.

Thump thump.

I look around the room, it's just me. No Maya, no Benji, no one else. Ok, maybe Maya went elsewhere. Benji might've passed out on the couch.

Thump thump.

I stumble to my feet, using the wall to collect myself. I dry heave as my body yearns to get rid of my first hangover, yet nothing comes up.

Thump thump.

"Maya? Benji?" I call out, but no answer.

Thump thump.

"Louis? Kenzie?"

Thump thump.

I stumble out into the hallway, there's no one out here. Maybe they're still out cold?

Thump thump.

I open Louis' rooms' door, hoping to find him and Kenzie still passed out, but his room is equally as empty as mine.

Thump thump.

"Guys?" I call out once again, hoping for a response.

Nothing.

Thump thump.

I walk out into the hallway, just as empty as my apartment, just as quiet. I knock on Violet's door. Come on, Violet. Ruby. Anyone.

Thump thump.

Am I dreaming? Am I really by myself?

No. I'm not. I can't be.

Thump thump.

I step outside into the bitter morning cold. Something doesn't feel right. It's too quiet.

Thump thump.

I run down the street, hearing some voices slowly getting louder and louder. My heart starts to race as I pick up my pace.

Thump thump. Thump thump.

A crowd has formed at the gate clamoring at something. I join in, trying to make my way to the front.

Thump thump.

I wrestle my way through the crowd, stumbling to the front to see what's going on.

Thump thump.

My heart stops.

Like a punch to the gut, all air escapes my lungs.

Six pikes, propped up in front of the gate. On each one, a walker head staring back at me with blank eyes.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"No…" is all I can let out at the sight of it all, "Oh my God… no…"

"They did it. Those sons of bitches, they did it." Max mutters from next to me.

Sheila and Nathan stare back at me, their decapitated heads propped up on the pikes. Lilly's heads of security, dead overnight.

Fern, one of my gatekeepers, is directly to their left. One of the people from the old regime I still trusted. Someone who lost her husband and daughter under such tragic circumstances, now a head on a pike. She was reliable, and I trusted her. She trusted me. But now she's gone.

My heart sinks as I turn to Jason's head next. I hear Annalyse scream from the crowd behind me as she comes to this realization. Once again, my second-in-command is dead at the hands of the Whisperers. This isn't like Dez, though. Dez offered himself up for a greater good. He went in to life knowing that he might not make it out, but as a soldier, he accepted that. Jason didn't have that experience as a soldier. I would never have asked him to do what Dez did.

And he didn't sacrifice himself like Dez did. He was murdered by those filthy animals.

The girl, Violet, sits next to Jason. She was one of the kids that came from the school. A quiet, hard-headed kid, she seemed friendly enough, despite her past with Lilly. I look towards Lilly, equally horrified as I am at what happened, as she clutches her daughter tightly, not daring to let go at any cost.

Some more murmurs come from the crowd as I turn towards it. Brett bursts through the crowd, stopping in his tracks at the shock or it all.

"Brett. Don't." I try to hold him back, knowing what he wants to do. He wrestles free, fueled by his anger and sadness, and runs towards the last pike.

His brother's lifeless eyes look back at him as he hunches over, vomiting all over the ground. He falls backwards onto his ass, looking back up at the array of walker heads.

"They did it. I can't believe it. They killed them." Lilly murmurs to me, "How?"

"Question of the damn year." I murmur back to her. There's questions that need answering. That should be priority number one. How did they get six people from our city and kill them overnight?

"We're locking down the city for the time being." I tell Javi. "No one gets in or out. I want all the walls checked for any breaches. Start with the breached portion from the attack a few nights ago. Someone got in here to do this, I want to know how."

"Anything you need, Ian." Javi confirms, "My men will provide. I'll get them on it right now."

I nod to my brother-in-law.

"We need to deal with this, now." Lilly says to me. "No more beating around the bush. We need to kill them now before this gets any worse."

"We will." I assure her. "In the coming days, we'll build an army and storm their camp. She'll die for this. She and anyone else that gets in our way will pay for this."

She shakes her head. "That's not good enough, Ian. We have locations, we have people, and now we have reason. We can end this today. Let's."

"I want this done right. I don't wanna go into this half-assed and risk more lives without proper preparation. Jesus gave us more numbers, so let's get set up and in a few days, we'll burn their whole group to the ground."

"Fine." She coldly and reluctantly agrees, turning towards Brett, grieving over his brother. "Poor kids. They've been through Hell. And now this? It's not fair to them."

"No, it's not. That's why we're going to make this right."

"I can't believe I have to break the news that more people died. I left Sheila's husband, Todd, in charge of the Delta. They've got two kids together now without a mother. Nathan's sister, Jess, is there, too. Nathan was her only alive relative, and now she's all alone."

"I want to know how this happened." I reiterate, "How did they break in and kill our people? We need to ramp up security here."

"I don't think anything you could've done would have prevented this." She mentions, "I mean, what could we have done? We don't know where they snuck in from. We couldn't have predicted something like this. Not at all."

"Maybe." I concede, "Maybe we couldn't predict something like this. But, this is gonna hurt my conscience for a while. A lot of people have suffered because of these people. Some of my people have lost loved ones because of them. Whatever happened last night, I'm gonna be thinking about it for a while wondering what I could've done."

We look back over at Brett, Maya and Louis helping him to his feet. It appears the tears have stopped for him, and as he passes by, I catch a glimpse of his face. Seething anger and nothing else paints what I can see of his expression, a fire in his one good eye I haven't seen in a person in a while, if ever. The crowd clears way for him as the three of them walk off, not a word said from anyone.

"Deal with the walker heads and get rid of them." I tell Max. "I need to address this with the townspeople. This has gotten out of hand."

* * *

_Ian's POV, Town Square_

"This goes without saying, but we are at war with the Whisperers." I announce from the stage in front of hundreds. I fucking hate public speaking. I could never do speeches. But, the people need to know what's going on. So, I'll put my fear of crowds aside to get everything straightened out as best I can. It's the least I can do here.

"Sometime last night, we were attacked again, this time losing six people in a cold and calculated move by the leader of the group. Sheila Graves, Nathan Frost, Jason Keaney, Fern McDermott, Violet Phillips, and Benjamin Sanderson were all senselessly killed in this attack, as many of you have already seen."

The crowd quietly murmurs during this, showing levels of anxiousness to outright anger, all of which is justified.

"I failed you. I did my best to keep you safe, but right now I don't feel safe here, and I can imagine most of you feel the same way. I don't blame you. What happened last night was an eye-opener for this community, to say the least. And there's nothing I can say right now that would guarantee that this community is safe, but what I can guarantee is this. We're going after them. We're going to find them. And we're going to give anyone responsible for these attacks the penalties they sow. In other words, we'll burn them to the ground. In the coming days, Jesus, Lilly, and I will assemble an army. We have a location. We have the people. We just need to prepare and then we will be off. This will be over for good, and we'll let this be a message to anyone that tries to mess with Richmond in the future. Don't. In the meantime, I'm having the city locked down. No one leaves the city for any reason without my knowledge and approval. This is strictly for security purposes and will only be for the next few days. Thank you for understanding, and God bless us all."

I step off the stage to strong applause from the crowd. Lilly meets me at the bottom of the steps, looking impressed. "Sounded like a true politician there."

"Yeah," I agree, "I hate it. It sounded just like a politician and didn't feel genuine. I wanted them to feel somewhat safe, but I couldn't just tell them that I can promise that. Not after last night."

"I don't think anyone was expecting you to make things right in one day. You're doing the best you can in an awful situation."

"I don't know if that's enough, Lilly. Doing my best doesn't matter if people keep dying."

"I have faith in you." I hear Jesus say from behind me. I turn to see my friend smiling as always. "I always have, Ian."

"I hope that's well-placed faith, Paul. I really do."

"Ian, you know you couldn't have done anything. I know this. Lilly knows this. You know this. Everyone knows this. Step up and lead this place in the right direction."

He's right. These people are looking to me to lead them. I need to be strong here and lead.

"We've got a Hell of a fight coming up." I tell him. "We're ending this. I'll make sure of that."

* * *

"That's it. That's how they got in." Javi tells me, pointing at the hole left from their attack. I thought it was sealed off enough from the earlier attack, but clearly they managed to get through. I look through the gap left in the wall, and I recoil as I look down.

"Well, that's what they did with the bodies." I announce to my brother-in-law. There they are. All six of them, sans their heads. They didn't even bother to hide the bodies, they just dumped them there. They had to have known we'd find them easily.

"They're getting cocky." Javi says, "They're not even trying to hide their actions."

"That'll be their downfall, then. Let them be cocky, we'll make it hurt more.

* * *

_Brett's POV, Later_

Each moment I stare at the blank wall in my room brings nothing but more and more agony.

I'm done mourning the dead.

I'm done letting this keep happening.

Because I'm not sad about my brother dying. I'm not sad about Violet dying. I'm not sad about anyone dying today. Not anymore. Those feelings have come and passed. I'm not sad anymore.

I'm fucking angry.

She needs to die for this. And if no one else steps up, then I will.

Even if it kills me, I'll kill her.

For Violet. For Benji. For everyone that's died because of her.

I.

Will.

Kill her.

**Brett has hit his breaking point. **


	12. An Eye for An Eye

**Chapter 12 - An Eye For An Eye**

_Ian's POV_

_Nighttime_

So it's really come to this. Here I am, sitting in my living room, a warm fire crackling in the fireplace, shotgun in my hands. Kate and the kids dozed off hours ago, but I can't sleep knowing my wife and kids are at risk. Javi has his men taking shifts patrolling the streets at night, but I'll take matters into my own hands. Even despite Javi's insistence that he help, I declined. I needed to do this. He needs to focus on his men, I'll focus on my wife and children. Gabe, like his uncle, wanted to help and unlike his uncle, wouldn't take no for an answer, so he lightly snores on the couch as I wait for his shift to start. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep when it's his turn, but I appreciate him stepping up when he didn't need to.

I've never been scared like this before. Sure, walkers are terrifying. They're an everyday danger and they scared me shitless when the world ended, but they're mindless. They don't think. They don't plan. They're mindless creatures with one goal and one way to attack.

The Whisperers are a whole other animal. They're real people. They're cold. They take calculated risks. They're meticulous. They can plan out these attacks.

The scariest part might be the fact that I don't know what they're end goal is, or if they even have one, for that matter. They might just exist to cause chaos. So, what am I supposed to even do here?

It doesn't help that as the leader of Richmond, I've also got a target on my back. My family has targets on their backs. At any moment, someone could come at me, Kate, Chandler, or Marissa and the thought of that is why I don't think I could sleep at all.

The good thing is, if a Whisperer is bold enough to try and get in my house, there's only one entrance. My front door. If they try to get in, they have to get past my stepson and I, as well as a 12-gauge shotgun. It packs quite a punch and I can't imagine anyone would want to test me.

Of course, if they want to try, I'll let them try. I'll make sure they regret it soon enough.

In the meantime, I'll sit in my chair, keeping my shotgun ready. This is my house. This is my city. And the Whisperers can't take that from me.

* * *

_Brett's POV_

Pain.

All life has brought me is pain.

Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, moment by moment, the pain I feel gets more and more excruciating as reality sets in.

They killed him. They killed Benji. I'm all that's left. He stuck by me for eight years. He nearly sacrificed himself for me and others just months ago. He and I always had each other's backs, and I failed him.

Well, now it's time to avenge him.

Even if I die, so does she.

From underneath the foot of Benji's bed, I grab the long holster, unsheathing his kitana. It hasn't been used in months, yet I still take the time to inspect it in the pale moonlight.

The metal, taken care of incredibly well by my brother, keeps the same shine as it always has. I put it back into the holster and attach it, in case I need it. It's all I have left to remember him by, a kitana and some memories.

Next up, my handgun. My beretta, sitting comfortably in my pocket, has a full magazine, with one additional magazine in reserve. I'm running low on ammo, so I gotta make these shots count in the meantime.

I look down at the bed, Maya snoring lightly as she is out cold. She's all I have left. This wonderful girl is the only thing keeping me going. I can't lose her, but that's why this has to happen. She and her sister deserve a safe place to live. And as long as Alpha and the Whisperers are alive, they can't have that.

I quietly turn for the door, ready to leave and hunt down Alpha. The bed creaks as I hear Maya adjust herself. Despite this, I keep walking out the door, until her voice causes me to freeze.

"Brett?"

God damn it. I turn back to my girlfriend, now sitting up in bed. "Hey, Maya."

"What are you doing?"

I sigh, knowing if I try to lie to her, she'll see right through me. "I'm going after Alpha. I'm killing her."

"What? Are you crazy? Ian said the city's on lockdown!"

"Ian's trying to build an army. That'll take days. That gives them more time to pick off more of us in the meantime. But, I can go by myself and maybe catch them by surprise. I can end this."

"You're not thinking straight, Brett." She softly tells me, "You're stressed out. It's been an awful day. Just come back to bed and think about this."

I shake my head, "I have thought about this. This is what I need to do."

"You're going to get yourself killed out there. Even if you kill her, is it worth dying?"

"Is it worth giving my life to make this world a little safer? I think so. If she dies, then I can die knowing I did something good for this community."

She stays silent for a minute, and I turn to walk out, thinking she accepted my decision. She speaks up again before I can get anywhere. "I'm coming with you."

"No way. It's too risky." I tell her. "If something happened to you out there, I wouldn't be able to live with myself."

"If I let you go out there by yourself and you get killed, I wouldn't be able to live with myself." She fires back, stunning me. She's got a point, using my own logic against me. I really don't have any argument here other than not wanting her to risk her life. "If you're going to be this reckless, you'll need someone out there to make sure you don't get killed." She adds, sealing the deal for me.

"I suppose you've got your own score to settle with her." I concede. "Be careful, though. You've got a whole lot more to fight for than just this."

"So do you." She reminds me, getting me to smile.

"Right then. You should get ready. I'm leaving soon."

She immediately rolls out of bed and starts getting dressed.

Minutes later, the both of us walk out of the room, quietly making sure not to wake up Louis or Kenzie in the next room over. We quietly step out, barely making a noise as we creep through the late-night stillness.

I slowly open the front door, stepping out into the hallway. Maya and I turn towards the entrance as the door opens up, Logan and Cain walking in as we're heading out. I don't acknowledge them, and they do the same, still having some bitter feelings after the other day. I don't regret what I did, but I can't help but wonder if Benji and the others were killed in retaliation.

I think they were. Maybe I did get him killed. I fucked up.

"Hey, Brett." Logan calls out to me. I turn around to see him and Cain looking back at us with sympathetic expressions. "I'm sorry about Benji. And I'm sorry about how things went the other day. Clearly you were right."

"I don't know if I was." I admit to them, "If I did things differently, maybe Benji would still be alive. Maybe this city would feel safer."

"You were." Cain assures me, "I should've agreed with you after they killed my sister. After what they did to your brother and the others, we both realized that the Whisperers aren't redeemable."

This brings a small smile to my face as the surprise of them coming around lingers. "I really appreciate that, guys."

"Where are you guys going?" Logan asks.

I look around, making sure no one else can see or hear us, before we let them in on what we're doing. "We're killing Alpha, Maya and I." I tell them, much to their surprise. "We're sneaking out through a hole in the city wall."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Logan follows up, "That sounds like suicide."

"Maybe it is. But every minute that Alpha's still breathing is a minute that she could've spent burning in hell for the things she's done."

The two boys turn to one another, not saying a word, before tuning back. "We wanna help. It's the least we can do."

It's my turn to be shocked once again. "Are you sure you want to? It's gonna get bloody. I can't guarantee we're all gonna make it out alive."

"If it helps killing her sooner, we want to help make that happen." Cain remarks.

I nod towards the door, "Let's go."

We step out into the brisk nighttime breeze. The four of us turn to one another as I tell them the plan.

"Alright, so the hole in the wall is on the Northeast, where the Whisperers broke in when they first assaulted Richmond. The hole isn't plugged yet, and is unguarded, from what I understand. We can sneak out that way, and then come back through the front gate when the job is done."

"Do you remember how to get there?" Logan asks. I nod back to him.

"The main road's pretty much a straight shot to the camp. It'll take a couple hours, but we'll get there."

"And what do you plan to do when you get there?" A voice asks from behind us. A familiar one.

"Lilly? What're you doing out here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She remarks to me. "I needed some air. I couldn't sleep. Now, what are you guys planning?"

"We're going after Alpha." Maya tells her.

"Ian's setting up an army to go after her. You should wait on this. You're being incredibly reckless going now."

"Ma'am, all due respect. I know what Ian said. I also know we need to take care of this sooner rather than later."

Lilly sighs, seeing that we're determined to deal with this now. "Fine. I want to help. Frankly, I wanted to go after them after what happened yesterday, but Ian told me to wait. But if you kids are absolutely certain you want to go now, then we'll do that."

"The more, the merrier." I smile as the five of us get moving.

* * *

_Hours Later_

The early dawn sun pokes its way through the treeline. We can hear the ever familiar sound of a large herd of walkers, the walker stockpile. This is it. Were near.

"No going back now." I say to the others. "This is it. We get one shot at this. Even if we die, so does she."

"Damn right." Logan agrees. "This is for everyone that's been taken from us."

"This is for Lydia." I say to him, a small, determined smirk forming on his face.

"I see the camp." Lilly whispers to us from behind a tree. "It seems quiet, but there's a few of them. This is the place."

We glance back at the camp, observing the Whisperers walking around, going about their daily lives, so it seems.

"Any sign of Alpha?" I ask, not breaking my gaze at the camp.

I'm answered with a sickening crunch and a gasp from my left. I turn towards the noise to see Lilly collapse to the ground, a blade sticking out of her back.

"Lilly!" Maya and I both cry out as she tries to move, to little avail.

"Speak of the Devil, and she shall appear." Alpha whispers as she retrieves her blade from Lilly's back.

Still in shock from seeing Lilly stabbed, I simply grit my teeth in anger, ready to rip Alpha's head off as she continues.

"It didn't have to be this way. Things didn't have to go this way." She tells us, "Your people would have been safe. My people would have been safe. We could've been peaceful. All we asked was that your people left ours alone. But you couldn't abide by that, could you? We tried to warn you, we really did. And yet, here we are."

"You're garbage that kills for sport. You don't deserve peace." I growl to her.

"And killing my daughter wasn't for sport?" She calmly fires back to me, "After she surrendered, when you executed her in cold blood? You're no better than us."

"You killed my brother. He had nothing to do with this. You hunted him down and killed him for what I did."

"_I _didn't do anything." She says back to me, emphasizing the fact it wasn't her. "But, I'm glad it happened. I hope it ate you alive knowing that your actions led to his death."

She chuckles for a moment, staring me in the eye. "Kill them."

I glance to the right and it hits me. Logan, knife in hand, sneaks up on Maya. "Look out!" I shout to her as I turn to face Cain, grabbing his wrists as I stop his knife from slashing me, inches from my face.

Cain, smaller than I am, gets overpowered, dropping his knife in our struggle as I shove him backwards, causing him to trip over himself and fall to the ground. I check on how Maya's doing quickly, just in time to see her beat Logan quickly, disarming him before throwing him to the ground. I hear a dense thud as he drops to the ground, his head hitting a large rock, and he doesn't get back up.

Without a second of thought, Maya turns her sights to Alpha and the two begin their own struggle, right next to Lilly's body, which has undoubtedly lost a massive amount of blood.

Before I can help, Cain grabs me by the leg, tripping me to the ground as he tries to gain the upper hand on me.

His hands wrap around my throat, crushing my airway as I quickly try to gasp for air. His ironclad grip keeps my throat closed, and despite me clawing at his face, he refuses to back down.

My right hand frantically searches the ground blindly for anything to help me beat him. It comes across something round and hard. A rock, no bigger than a baseball. With all the strength I can, my vision starting to blur from suffocation, I grab the rock and swing. Hard.

A loud crack is heard as Cain howls in pain, holding his jaw as he lets go. He keels over on the ground, blood seeping from his mouth as I get to my feet.

I kick him over onto his side, and as he rolls onto his back, looking to try and get up, the last thing he sees is my boot stomping onto his face and neck. The crunch and snap that follows confirms the kill. I step back at his disfigured face, making sure he's gone, but there's no coming back from that.

My time admiring my work is cut short, however, as the sounds of struggle from Alpha and Maya show that Alpha is winning. Sure enough, she's got my girlfriend pinned, a knife inches away from her face.

I unsheathe my brother's kitana, walking over to her without a second of hesitation, and I drag her off Maya.

Before Alpha can react, I put my brother's sword to her neck, and I make one clean swipe, slitting her throat open. Her blood spurts through the cut, and while she still gasps for air, I crouch down behind her, lowering myself to whisper right in her ear.

"Trail ends here, bitch."

I let her body drop to the ground as she spends her last few moments choking on her own blood, gasping up at the sky for a bit before her eyes gaze upwards.

That's it. She's done.

I help Maya to her feet, noticing a small cut right above her left eye dropping fresh blood. She doesn't seem to care, given the circumstances.

The two of us stand over Alpha's dead body, feeling the sweet relief of knowing we were successful, albeit at a cost.

"It was only gonna end one way for her. I'm just glad we did it." I tell her as the both of us look over at Lilly's body. "I wish she was here to see it."

Her corpse lays in the ground, in the same position I saw it when she had just been stabbed. A fairly large pool of blood surrounds her. She's gone, too.

"Lilly helped me and my family in ways I couldn't have possibly repaid." She says to me somberly, "I owe her the world for what she did."

"It's crazy, she nearly killed me and my friends so many times, and yet… shit. She gave her life for us. So we could kill Alpha." I feel a tear coming to my one good eye. I close it and wipe it away before opening my eye again.

"Where'd Logan go?" Maya asks. I look over to the rock he hit his head on, a blood splatter where his head once rested.

"He didn't turn, did he?" I ask her, and she simply shrugs. "We'd have heard him, right?"

"I would think so." She notes, "He must have ran off."

"Fucking bastard." I growl. "That backstabbing piece of shit. He and Cain murdered Benji. It was them, not Alpha. We should kill him."

"Brett…" She uneasily looks over at me, "We should get back to Richmond. We got what we came for, forget about Logan. He can go rot with the rest of these sick fucks."

"You're right." I sigh, "We killed her. There's no point in getting ourselves killed at this point."

Lilly's body twitches, just in the corner of my eye. A soft gurgling noise comes from her as she twitches again. Maya and I both know what this means, and the mood becomes a bit more somber than it already is.

"I'll take care of her. You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

She sniffs once before nodding, walking off without a word as Lilly's corpse starts to reanimate.

As I hear another groan coming from her, I walk up behind her twitching corpse, drawing my brother's katana once again.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper as I plunge the katana blade into her skull, putting her down for good and leaving absolute quiet. And yet, I get the eerie feeling that I'm being watched. Truth be told, I probably am. Hell, maybe even Logan's watching me. He'll get what's coming to him, one way or another.

I look back at Alpha's body, and a morbid, albeit fitting idea comes to my mind.

* * *

_Ian's POV, Hours Later_

Well, we made it through the night. No Whisperers, no trouble. Like I earlier predicted, I couldn't sleep, even after Gabe took over. By the time I accepted I wasn't getting any sleep, it was almost dawn. So, here I am, going on no sleep at all, watching my son play in our living room with an old toy truck. Marissa sleeps peacefully in my arms, just as she usually does while Kate continues to rest upstairs.

A knock at my door gets me up from the couch. I slowly open the door to find Brett and Maya. The young couple both have stone cold expressions, but a small smirk forms on Brett's lips.

"Hey, you two. What's going on?"

"We got something for you." Brett says to me. Confused, I don't say anything and give him a weird look.

He reaches into his bag, and I take a step back in shock as he reveals what he has.

Alpha's undead eyes stare back at me as she barely gasps out. The brain still intact, she's a walker head, but that's all she is.

"What the… You guys killed her?"

Brett proudly nods. "We did. She's done."

Stunned, I feel my jaw slowly dropping as waves of relief rush throughout my body.

"Holy shit, guys. This is… wow. We need to tell Lilly."

They both frown back at me as they avert their eyes, and I feel my gut sink a bit. "Guys?"

"Lilly's dead." Maya says somberly. "Alpha killed her."

I sit down on my coach, shocked at the news of my friend's death. With a sigh, I cover my eyes with my one free hand. After another sigh, I look back up at them. "I'm glad she's gone. And I'm glad you got your revenge, Brett. I really am. I wish you waited until we built the army to go after her. You put yourselves in danger for no reason. You could've been killed."

"But, we didn't." Brett protests. "We-"

"Brett." I sternly stop him, "I said you could have. What you guys did was incredibly reckless, and got a good friend of mine killed."

I stop myself as I notice their expressions change, especially Brett, who brought himself back down to Earth. He's just a kid, I can't blame him for wanting to do it. And, technically, he is right. He did make it back in one piece.

"Thank you for getting it done." I say more compassionately. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't know how you feel, and I'd be a hypocrite if I punished you for doing that, given the fact that I've done the same."

The two of them stay silent, looking genuinely remorseful for what they did.

"Just... please be careful. I think very highly of the both of you. I'd hate to see something happen to either of you."

"Yes, sir." They both nod respectfully before leaving my house. I lean back on my couch, exhaling towards the ceiling. Fuck, this is gonna be a fun conversation with Kate.

My son's giggling as he drives his truck off the table interrupts my train of thought. A smile comes to my face as I look down at his baby sister. The world's a little bit safer now. That's what this is all about, after all. Making the world a safer place for the children to grow up in. Hopefully one day it'll be back to normal. Real normal, not what today is. But, until then, I can rest a little bit easier knowing Alpha's dead, even if it's just an extra moment of peace.

* * *

_Brett's POV, Outside_

"So, it's really over." Maya says to me as we walk away from Ian's house. A smile starts to form on my face.

"It looks like it."

She doesn't say anything, frowning a bit, and it's fairly obvious why. I won't lie, I feel the same way. After all that's happened, even seeing Lilly die, things are a little shaken up.

I take Alpha's head, still reanimated, and I stick my blade right into her eye, stabbing the brain and finally ending her for good. An eye for an eye. Heh, a pun. I discard her head in an old trash can, and that's that.

"Hey, do you know where Lilly was living?" I ask her as another idea crosses into my mind. She nods. "Good. I have an idea about how we can pay Lilly back for all she's done for us."

* * *

We open the door to find Javi holding Lilly's daughter, looking a little impatient. He immediately notices us as we walk inside. "Have either of you seen Lilly? She told me she went to go get some air early this morning but I haven't seen her since. She just told me to watch Chloe until she got back."

"She's dead." Maya mumbles to him. "She was killed by Alpha."

"Oh no." He murmurs, "What the fuck happened?"

"Stabbed in the back. But, we took care of Alpha. She's gone, too."

"Oh my God… So, what about Chloe?"

"That's why we're here." I tell him. "Lilly did a lot for us, and we both owe her our lives. After she was killed, we figured we could take care of her, since both her parents are gone."

Javi shakes his head, despite a small smile. "No way. It's a nice gesture, but you guys are just kids yourselves. You don't need that extra responsibility of raising a kid. Not yet."

"We know what we're getting into, Javi." Maya tells him. "We owe Lilly and Blake this much. If not us, then who? Chloe already knows me and Kenzie, you know."

Javi stays silent for a moment, mulling over his options. With a reluctant sigh, he gently hands Chloe to Maya. "I trust you guys. Take good care of her. If you guys need any help, turn to me, Ian, or Eleanor for help. You're gonna find that caring for a kid is not as easy as you think."

"Thank you, Javi. We will." I thank him as he helps us gather her things. A few minutes and another warning about the difficulties of raising a child later, we head back home.

"Here we are. One big happy family." I grin to Maya, who grins back to me as she holds our adopted daughter. "I wonder how Louis and Kenzie'll react."

"Louis'll probably joke and Kenzie'll probably be all over her." She remarks as I nod in agreement.

I open the door to my apartment to find Louis and Kenzie on the couch, cuddling under a blanket together. They both immediately take notice of Chloe in Maya's arms, and the questions start coming.

"Where were you?"

"Why do you have Lilly's daughter?"

"What's going on?"

"Slow down!" Maya tells the two of them. "Look, we left early this morning to hunt down Alpha. Which we did. She's dead. Unfortunately, so is Lilly. Alpha killed her before we could kill Alpha. So, we decided to adopt her daughter as a way to pay her back for her sacrifice. We owe her that much."

Kenzie, as expected, almost snatches Chloe from Maya's arms and starts rocking her in her arms, causing Chloe to beam in happiness. She gently hands her off to Louis, who makes a goofy face and causes Chloe to start giggling and babbling bubbly.

Confidently, he grins back at us. "Oh yeah, cool Uncle Louis."

We all have a good laugh at that one.

**Well, there it is. Alpha is gone. Unfortunately, so is Lilly. This isn't quite the end of the story, though. In fact, I'd say this is the end of the second act. Stick around. Chapter 13 will be up in a few days.**


	13. You Can't Save Anyone

**Chapter 13 - You Can't Save Anyone**

"Brett…" A voice wakes me from my sleep. My eyes slowly blink as I look around my room, no one's here.

I sit up in my bed looking around once again as the girl's voice calls my name out again.

"Brett…"

Chills run up and down my spine as the southern twang in her voice brings back some very good and very bad memories.

Her hair, the color of autumn, a mix of red, orange, and brown. Her eyes, a deep blue color, like the ocean. Those same eyes that I used to get lost in for hours stare me right into my soul as I come face to face with her. I slowly get up out of bed as everything hits me.

"Brody…" is all I can gasp out as a scowl forms on her lips.

But this wasn't a cute scowl like when I teased her about something. This was different, like she's seriously pissed.

"How could you?" She growls at me. Confused, I raise an eyebrow at her.

"What do you mean?"

"You KNEW Marlon was hiding something. You KNEW I was in danger. You KNEW that and left me with him. You let him scare me and kill me. You abandoned me when I needed you the most." She snarls at me accusingly.

"What are you talking about? I was asleep when he killed you!" I remind her as the scowl only grows more intense.

"Before then, when you went to go grab dinner and laugh it up with fucking Louis. Marlon wanted to speak with me alone. Remember?"

She's right. That did happen that night. But still, what am I supposed to do there?

"You left me that night. You didn't need to go down into the basement with Marlon. You could've even told me what was going on that night and we could've handled it. Maybe I should be asking you why you weren't more honest with me?" I fire back at her.

Appalled, her jaw drops. "Marlon threatened me if I didn't follow him down there. Don't use that to ignore the simple fact that you can't protect anybody you love."

My heart skips a beat or two as those last words pierce me like a knife. I open my mouth to rebut, but no words escape me. The scowl on her face disappears as she chuckles a bit.

"That's right. You can't protect anyone you love. Anyone you care about, it's a fucking death sentence for them. Face it Brett, you suck at protecting people. All you do is put them in more danger and with that, you get them killed."

"Brody, I…" She cuts me off with a swift kick to the chest, too fast for me to even react.

My body falls deeper and deeper into the dark abyss until I feel my body thud onto a cold concrete floor. I look up at the dimly lit room, confused.

"Look familiar?" Brody asks me, and I shake my head. I can barely see in the faint light. "Let me help you then."

She points down at my feet and I follow her motion. At my feet lies her corpse, brain bashed in with the flashlight and everything. Her brain and skull matter mixes with the blood around us and makes me sick to my stomach. I try to turn away, but something draws my gaze to it like a magnet, forcing me to look. It's the basement at Ericson. It's where Marlon killed her.

"You can't save anyone you care about." She says once again, "Not Louis, not your girlfriend, and certainly not that child. She's as good as dead with you taking care of her."

"You're wrong. You're wrong and you know it!" I shout back at her.

"No, she's not. And you know it." Another voice says from behind me. I turn around as a fist flies in and knocks me on my back again. I look up and grit my teeth at the sight of him.

"Marlon. You son of a bitch." I snarl at him as he gives me an equally nasty look.

"It could've been so simple, Brett. Things could've been so much simpler if you just went along with it. Instead you let that kid kill me and things turned to shit real fast, didn't it?"

"You killed her. You brought that upon yourself. I would've killed you myself if AJ didn't get you first."

"No, you wouldn't." He says, almost amused by this, "You're not a killer. At least then you weren't. You didn't have what it took to take someone's life like that."

"No… No I could. I would've killed you."

"It's funny, you care too much about others, yet you suck at keeping them safe." Another male's voice says from behind me. Just like Marlon, I turn to face him and another fist hits me square in the face.

"You let me run out there. You had a clear shot at her and you didn't take it. You let me die. Some leader you are." Mitch snarls, just like he always did.

"You ran out there yourself. You ran right at her. What did you expect to happen?" I ask him, to little avail.

"I ran out there because I cared about Tenn. I cared about our people, but with how things turned out, can you say the same?"

"Brett? Why did you let AJ kill me?" A younger boy's voice asks. I turn to face Tenn who, unlike the others, shows sadness instead of anger. "He was my best friend. Why didn't you stop him?"

"Tenn I… You…" My voice breaks, as the sadness disappears. His face turns to that of contempt with a vicious glare.

"You said I was a liability. And that Louis' life was worth more than mine. You could've saved us both, so why did I have to die?"

I feel my eyes start to water as I try my best to avoid his glance. "It wasn't that simple. We had to go and you were hung up on Minnie."

"I trusted you." He says quietly, "I trusted you, and you let AJ kill me."

"Trust misplaced it seems like. I know a thing or two about that." Violet says as she walks up from behind him. "I thought I could trust you, Brett. I really thought I could. Look where that got me. How many more people have to die before you get it? You can't save anyone."

I can't say anything back. I just can't. She's right. She trusted me and she died. I made a promise to keep our friends safe and I fucking failed.

Two more people walk up from behind her. A tall, slender brunette woman and a taller, athletic bearded man. The both of them look at me, not mad, but disappointed. My heart drops at the sight of them, knowing what's coming.

"No. Please no. Mom. Dad. Please don't."

"All you had to do was move, Brett. All you had to do was fucking move. That was not the time to get cold feet. Fucking coward." My Dad's words pierce my heart like a dagger. I look up at Mom, hopefully getting some sort of reassurance, but the cold look she gives me offers none.

"You couldn't even keep your own brother alive. You're a fucking stain. You have no chance of keeping anyone alive." He adds coldly.

"Please stop!" I yell out to both nobody and everybody. "I tried my best! You're right, I failed! I'm a fucking failure!"

The figures disappear from the dark room, leaving me alone. My chest slowly stops pounding as I look around me. I'm still in the basement, but no one else is. I'm all alone, so how do I get out?

Slow footsteps pace towards me from behind. Each step echoes off the walls as whoever it is gets closer and closer.

Benji's brown eyes meet mine as I turn around to meet him. Like Mom and Dad, he shows a level of contempt and anger, but says nothing. Instead, he pulls out a knife, the dull light glinting off its shiny metal, and nonchalantly sticks it into my neck.

* * *

My heart skips a beat as I jolt awake, my chest pounding like a drum. My body calms down as it settles in that I'm out of the nightmare. Maya and Chloe's steady breathing as the two of them sleep lulls me into a sense of calmness and relaxation.

Yet, despite this, a cloud of uncertainty begins to form. What if Brody's right? What if I got her killed by leaving her with Marlon? Is it my fault that I'm here and she's not?

What about Tenn? I had a chance to stop AJ. I could've stopped him from shooting. But what happens then? Does Louis die if AJ doesn't shoot Tenn? Could I live with stopping AJ and saving Tenn if it costs me Louis, my best friend? I don't know if I could. At the same time, am I a bad guy for letting AJ shoot Tenn if it meant saving Louis. I don't fucking know.

I made a big mistake. It's bigger than killing Alpha's daughter. Way bigger. I let Violet believe that I could be trusted with something as big as keeping her safe. I let her believe that while doing something as rash and cold-blooded as shooting someone that wasn't a threat. I executed a young girl in cold blood because I felt like it.

But, that's war, right? War has casualties. Its better that they have more casualties than we do. And sometimes, you have to make the hard decisions in war that'll cost you a lot, but need to be made nonetheless.

And you know what? It felt nice. It felt nice to hit back after life hit me down to the ground. It feels nice to fight back after being put through Hell.

This war is taking me down a dark path, but it's something I need to do. This is bigger than me. Its bigger than anyone here. This is about the survival and wellbeing of a community I'm glad to call home, and I know what I have to do.

As long as there are still Whisperers around, this place isn't safe.

Alpha's been dead for days. Richmond's war with the Whisperers is over.

But my war is just beginning.

**So, Brett has a bit of survivor's guilt after all this time. And with that, the third act has started. Would love to hear from you guys with any feedback at all. With my semester ending soon, I'd like to get on a consistent writing schedule, so hopefully that'll come and soon enough, this story will be finished. Hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you next time.**


	14. Scorched Earth

**Chapter 14 - Scorched Earth**

I knock on his door a few times, hoping he's home. He should be free today, if Louis was right. I have to see him.

Willy's wide brown eyes meet mine as he opens the door. He smiles brightly as I can't help but do the same.

"Hey Brett! What's up?"

"I need your help with something Willy." I tell him quietly, "Can we talk inside?"

He nods and let's me in, the two of us get comfortable in the living room.

"I need a bomb." I tell him, "It doesn't need to be as powerful as the one you used to blow up the boat, but something that packs a punch nonetheless."

"Why do you need that?" He asks me, confused.

I coldly stare back at him as a small smirk forms, "Hunting some animals."

He ponders this for a moment before it hits him. My smirk grows as he comes to the realization as to what I mean.

"I'll do it. Those animals deserve it. For Violet and Benji. But I'll need some things."

"Thanks, Willy. What do you need from me?"

"We need fertilizer and propane. I need you to get one of those, and I'll grab the other." He tells me. "We don't need much, but the more we can get, the more I can make and the more damage you can do."

"I'll get the fertilizer, as much as I can. I wanna make them hurt." I smirk to Willy, who nods back to me. My tone gets more serious as I add one last bit. "You're a sharp kid, Willy. This should go without saying, but what we're doing here stays between the two of us. Like, just me and you. No one else."

"Right. Just us." He confirms to me.

"Good." I pat him on the back. "Thank you for helping me with this project. We're gonna be making the world a better place by doing this."

"Damn right we are. For Benji and Violet."

I like the attitude.

He and I say our goodbyes and go our separate ways. If I remember correctly, there's a storage building a few blocks away where they keep excess farming materials. With any luck, there'll be fertilizer.

As I walk down the street towards the building, something continues to eat away at me. That feeling in the back of my head where I feel like I'm being watched. It feels like everyone's got eyes on me. Why? Why do I feel like this?

I'm being watched. Someone is. I don't know who, but I can just tell. I look around, trying to see who's watching, but everyone seems to be minding their own business. Strange.

I take another look around at my surroundings and, sure enough, it doesn't seem like anyone's paying me any attention. Of course, if I was being watched, then wouldn't they want to seem like they weren't if I were to catch on? So, maybe someone is, in fact, watching me.

No, what am I talking about? No one's watching me. That's crazy.

But, what if I was?

No. Stop.

I hurry my pace up as I feel my heart rate start to pick up a bit. The building comes into view and I quickly step inside, my heart rate dropping as my mind stops rushing.

Perfect, I'm inside. There's no one here. Strange, I'd have thought someone would guard this, at least. I walk through the building, the sounds of my footsteps on the cold stone floor the only noise I make.

Bingo. A large green bag stacked on top of others catches my eye on a shelf. Perfect. I grab the bag and head for the door.

I freeze as I hear the sound of the metal door scraping against the concrete floor. I hear footsteps walking in as I hide behind some wood crates.

"Where the fuck is Bobby?" A man's voice angrily asks. "He's supposed to be guarding this place."

"I don't know, man. His lazy ass probably took a nap and overslept. All I know is if anything's missing, Ian's gonna be pissed. Whatever, Bobby deserves it. I'm not taking the fall for him this time." Another man's voice grunts, equally frustrated at this guy, Bobby.

"Me neither. Fuck this shit, we should tell him right now." The first guy agrees as the pair walk out. Perfect.

I quickly make my way out, discreetly and nonchalantly carrying the bag as I make my way back to the apartment building.

I open up the door to Willy's apartment to drop off the bag to see Omar sitting in a chair, his face deep in a book. He immediately notices me and perks up at the sight of me. "Hey, Brett! How's it going?"

"I'm doing alright." I smile back at my friend. "Is Willy here?"

He shakes his head. "Nope. He was gone by the time I got back here. I've got no clue where he is. What's that you've got there?"

"Fertilizer." I tell him. "He told me he needed some for a project we're working on."

He looks back at me with a bit of skepticism in his expression. Omar's not stupid. He can pick up on things pretty easily. But, despite this, he shrugs and gets back to his book. I walk over to the door that leads to Willy's room, plop the bag onto Willy's bed, and give Omar a respectful wave as I walk out of the apartment, back to my own.

I slowly open the door to see my girlfriend holding our adopted daughter in her arms, slowly rocking her to sleep. Man, it still feels weird calling Chloe my adopted daughter. I'm not even 20 yet and I kinda have a family. It's wild. But, it's a good feeling, coming home to my girls.

Maya quietly shushes me as I sit down next to her, making sure to give her a quick kiss as I do so.

"How is she?" I whisper to her.

"She was a bit fussy but she's finally falling asleep." She tells me with a bit of relief in her voice. "I gotta say, being a parent isn't as tough as I would've thought. It hasn't exactly been smooth sailing, but it hasn't exactly been a nightmare either, you know?"

"It's only been a few days." I remind her, "There's still plenty of time for trouble to come. Let's just take this one day at a time."

"Of course." She smiles, looking down at her. "She definitely takes after Lilly."

"Oh for sure." I agree, "Those eyes look just like hers. I can definitely see it."

The both of us sit back and relax on the couch as we let her sleep.

"Where's King Louis and Queen Kenzie?" I ask Maya. "It's too quiet in here."

"Don't know." She shrugs to me, "They left about an hour ago and haven't been back since."

I shrug back to to her as the two of us just sit there, not speaking, just sitting together. One big happy family.

One big happy family that I'd do anything to protect.

* * *

_Hours Later_

I hear a knock at the door, causing me to get up. Through the peephole, I see Willy standing in the hallway, holding an old plastic bag. I slowly open the door and let him in.

"Is that it?" I motion to the bag, and he nods in confirmation.

"This is it. It's gonna be a big boom. They won't know what hit 'em." He grins excitedly.

"Excellent." I sport a similar grin. "You did good, Willy."

"I don't know how big the blast radius is, so I'd say just light the fuse and run like Hell away from it. Speaking of, the fuse is 10 seconds. So, when I say run like Hell, you need to run like Hell." He emphasizes the last bit, and I make a mental note that I don't have much time.

"You have something to light the fuse, right?" He follows up.

In response, I pull out my lighter and flip it on, sparking a moderately sized flame. I put it back in my pocket as he hands me the bag.

"When are you planning on doing it?" He asks quietly.

"Tomorrow." I tell him, "I'm gonna sneak out early in the morning and try and catch them off-guard."

"Good luck." He tells me as we part ways once again, leaving me with the explosive. I open up the bag, taking a second to admire Willy's work. This thing looks mean. I love it.

I walk into my room, quickly storing the bomb underneath my bed and making sure it's covered.

Oh yeah, this is coming together quite nicely.

* * *

_Ian's POV_

"Heads up, AJ!" I call out as I gently throw the football to him down the road. He jumps up in an attempt to catch it, although it bounces off his fingers to the ground. Not to be discouraged, he picks it back up and launches it back to me, impressively so given his age and size. Maybe he will throw the ball a mile like Matt, after all.

I do the same to him once again and, just like last time, he fails to catch it.

"Keep trying AJ. You'll get it, kiddo!" Clem encourages him. He gives her a determined smirk as he throws it back to me once again.

"Maybe one day Chandler and AJ will get to play football together." My wife remarks as she holds Marissa gently. Chandler, usually always up to play with us, is down for his afternoon nap. Otherwise, he and AJ would be running around all over the place. Clem, sitting right next to Kate, has been taking some pointers from my wife on parenting, even though my wife is relatively new to this, as well.

"Maybe one day." I respond to her, thinking back several years ago when AJ was born, "I remember AJ's mother told me to wait until he was older for football, but we'll see."

"I want to be a big strong football player, like the guys in the pictures!" He exclaims to Clem. I glance at her, slightly confused.

"AJ found some old football cards." She explains to me, "He really likes them."

"I had a huge collection of football cards when I was younger." I tell AJ, "If we were closer to my house, I'd show you them."

Confused, AJ points to my house, the one we're currently in front of. "But it's right there."

"My old house. From before the monsters." I clarify, and it isn't long before he realizes. "I had a lot of cool stuff there. My football cards, football jerseys, some old video games, so much stuff." I muse about the past, before all this. There's so much I miss about that life. But, if it weren't for the things that happened, things would be different, for both the better and worse. I can't be upset about the bad without recognizing the good that's come from this.

"Clem told me about video games." AJ smiles, "They sounded fun."

I glance over at the girl once again, "Were you a gamer when you were younger, Clem?"

She shakes her head with a smile, "Nah, not really. My cousins and I would play games on their GameCube whenever I visited, though. It was so much fun."

"A classic." I grin to her as I throw AJ another pass. This time, he catches it in his arms, throwing it back to me excitedly.

"Did you see, Clem? I caught it!"

"I sure did, AJ!"

He beams at her response, making me smile quite a bit. This is normal. A normal I really haven't felt in a while. For the first time in a while, I don't feel the uncertainty about life. There's no Alpha anymore. I'm sure there are still Whisperers out there, but after Brett and Maya killed Alpha, it doesn't feel like the Whisperers are a threat anymore. At least, not as big of a threat as they once were.

Hopefully, for their sake, they learned their lesson about attacking us and will leave us alone from now on. If not, then they'll learn it eventually. I'll make sure of that.

Because I made a promise to the good people of Richmond that I would provide safety and security. I failed once, and people died for it. I won't make that mistake again.

But in the meantime, I'll just enjoy the free time I have to be with the people I care about the most. After all, family is what matters most. It's all we have left in this world. Without my family, I'm nothing. The time I have with them is priceless, so I may as well make the most of it.

* * *

_The Next Morning, Dawn_

Last time I did this, I was careless and woke Maya up. I let her convince me that I was putting myself in danger and that she should come with me, but I can't let her do that again. Chloe needs a mother to raise her. She needs to be that woman. I can't let her jeopardize that by coming with me.

I slowly slither out of bed, making sure to avoid any sudden movements that would wake her. I reach under the bed, fishing out the bag Willy gave me, and pulling out the bomb.

"Ten second fuse." I whisper to myself. Ten seconds to run like hell before this thing blows them to kingdom come. That's not a lot of time, but it'll do.

I slowly walk out of the room, making sure not to wake Chloe, either, and I quietly make my way to the living room. I grab my bag, gently placing the bomb in it before walking out of the apartment, making sure not to wake my girlfriend, our daughter, or Louis and Kenzie.

Stepping out into the cool spring morning breeze, I feel a soft mist caress my face, relaxing me. I close my eye and take a deep breath, taking in the morning atmosphere.

"What're you doing?" An unfamiliar voice asks from behind me.

I turn around to face the person to find multiple people, all around my age, staring at me weirdly.

"Uh, hi." I sheepishly smile and wave to them. "Just getting a bit of air. Beautiful morning, isn't it?"

The three of them stare back at me, two boys around my age and a girl, all unconvinced by my lie. One of the boys, pale with dark hair, sees right through me as he eyes my bag.

"You're Brett, right? The guy that lost his brother?"

Fuck.

I nod, knowing they're piecing everything together. Lying any further will get me nowhere. The girl somehow puts it all together like nothing.

"You're breaking out to go attack them, aren't you?"

"How did you-"

"What's in the bag?" She asks before I can finish.

Fuck. I'm caught.

Without saying a word, I open the bag and show them the bomb. The other boy gasps as he deduces it almost immediately. "Is that a bomb?"

"You guys are pretty sharp." I remark to the three of them.

"You're going out there by yourself? Are you crazy?" The girl hisses at me. "You'll get yourself killed."

I simply shrug back. "I need to do this. If I die doing it, then I know I die doing this world a favor. I'm not afraid of death. They aren't. Why should I?"

"I get that." The first boy says sympathetically. "We've all seen some shit out there. We've lost family to had people like them, and we know all too well how it feels to want to get revenge on those people. We could help you with that, watch your back and everything."

I raise an eyebrow at their offer, weighing the options in my head.

I shake my head. "I'd rather do this by myself. Thanks, though. I just had a bad experience last time I trusted someone to go out there and help me kill them."

"Logan and Cain." The other boy mentions, and I nod to him. After Alpha was killed, I guess news that a couple Whisperers infiltrated us spread like a wildfire. Logan and Cain's names were imprinted in all our heads as people could only wonder how they managed to sneak in here the way they did. Truth is, we opened our front door to them.

"Exactly. That's why I'm doing it by myself. I have a hard time trusting new people nowadays. It's what got my brother killed."

Understanding, they all nod. "Good luck." The first boy tells me. "I'm Dustin, by the way. That's Jacob and Zoe. We'd love to get to know you better later on, maybe try and gain your trust if you'd like."

I smile and nod back to them. "I'd like that. Later tonight?"

"Later tonight." Dustin confirms. "Give 'em Hell out there."

"That's the idea." I grin as I start heading off towards the hole in the Northeast wall. A piece of sheet metal now covers it, propped up by a truck pinning it to the wall, but otherwise it isn't reinforced. Of course, the idea is to keep anyone from using it to break in. Buuuuuut, if one were to move the sheet metal from the inside, there's nothing stopping that individual from sneaking out.

I quickly grab the metal sheet and place it on its side, being careful to place it and not drop it to not make any unnecessary noise. I slip through the hole, dropping onto the ground next to the rotting corpses etched into my mind already. No time to put the metal back before the early shift workers get up.

This is it. Time to get to work.

* * *

_Hours later_

Sun's been up for a few hours now. Maya's surely up by now, worried sick about where I could be. I feel guilty about leaving her like that. Maybe I could've left a note, to reassure her that I'll be back? Damn, I could've probably done that. Oh well, too late now.

There it is. The camp's within sight. There's a lot fewer Whisperers than I remember walking around the site. Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe it's not.

A crunch behind me forces me to snap back and turn around, just in time to catch the wrist of a Whisperer trying to attack me, a knife of his own in his hand. As our struggle reaches a stalemate, I send my knee right to his side, forcing him to recoil in pain. As his knee buckles, I start to overpower him, freeing the knife from his grasp and giving me the chance to pull out my own knife.

With a single swift jab, I stab the blade into his side. He gasps as I remove the blade and stab him once again, this time in the gut. I remove the knife once again, kicking his own knife away. I plant my boot on his chest, making sure to press down extra hard as I crouch down to remove his mask. He's a little older than I am, with some real thick glasses. And yet, something about this guy seems real scary.

"Who… are you?" He whispers with a deep Russian accent.

"You know who I am." I growl to him quietly, "I'm the one who killed Alpha. I'm also the one that's gonna kill the rest of you sick fucks, too, starting with you."

"Fuck… you…" he weakly says, spitting a glob of blood up towards me, splattering on my jeans.

With a single slash across his throat, I leave him lying on his back. I hear the faint sounds of him choking on his own blood behind me as a smile forms at my lips. Killing bad people has a satisfying feel to it, like a burden lifted from your shoulders.

I crouch behind a tree, reaching into my bag for the bomb. There it is. Ten seconds. Run like Hell. I repeat both of those instructions in my head several times, pounding it into my head.

There's a few tents perched up around the camp in one area. That might be a good spot. Close, probably has a lot of them sleeping there, I could do a lot of damage.

I slowly scan the area and don't see anyone looking in my direction. In one hand, I hold Willy's bomb, and in the other, I pull out my lighter, flipping it open and sparking a flame.

I slowly creep over to the spot, placing the bomb carefully next to the tent and placing the flame next to the fuse.

The fuse catches fire, and the clock is ticking. Throwing all caution in the wind, I make a break for it in the opposite direction.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

I brace for the explosion behind a tree as I finish my countdown. But, as I pass one, nothing happens.

No. No no no. What the fu-

**BOOM!**

A bright flash followed by a deafening boom overloads my senses, making my ears ring and eyes a bit blurry as the shock forces me to the ground. I stagger to my feet after a few moments to relish in the chaos around me.

Willy was not kidding when he said it packed a serious punch. The debris still falling mixed with the smoke and ash paints a beautiful scene of destruction. Add in the limbs and dead bodies that litter the area in front of me, and it's a masterpiece. I'll have to do something for Willy to repay him for all this.

I draw my M9, walking towards the scene to finish any survivors off. I'm immediately rushed by one whisperer, his insides spilling out of him from some of the shrapnel in the blast. Despite his attempt to get to me, his body collapses just short and he dies at my feet.

Nonchalantly, I walk past him to another survivor of the blast, survivor being used generously here, as she desperately crawls away from me. A trail of blood follows her on the leaves and soil as I end her suffering with a single round to the back of her head.

Another whisperer, out of the corner of my eye, tries to crawl behind some debris, leaving part of his leg behind him. I walk towards him, gun drawn, and I point it at him as I get a good look at him.

"Brett?" a familiar voice weakly asks from behind the mask. I freeze up at this, but after a closer look, a familiar pair of eyes stare back at me. I reach down and rip the mask off his face, and Logan and I come face-to-face once again. For the first time since he and Cain betrayed us, I see his face, caked in dirt like the others we've come across. The both of us give each other fierce glares.

"Logan…" I growl, "You piece of shit. I was hoping I'd find you."

"The war is over."

"My war is over when I say it's over."

"So, you're here to finish me off? Just like how you killed my sister? Just like how you killed my mother?"

"Your what?"

"You heard me. I am Alpha's son. That whisperer you killed, that was my sister. That was Lydia."

"But you-"

"Put it together, dipshit. You're smarter than this. Beta took your eye, not your brain."

"Fuck you. Fuck your sister. And fuck your mother. Fuck your whole family. Fuck all of you."

"Killing me won't bring Benji back, you know. It's a shame. He seemed real nice. His last words were a bunch of drunken bullshit, though. It was a shame, really. He didn't know what we were doing. We didn't enjoy it as much as the others."

"You went out of your way to kill someone that had nothing to do with this. You should've killed ME! ME, not him!" I yell at him. He coughs to the side a couple times before smirking back at me.

"No one's innocent in this world. When we had our war, anyone was fair game. You yourself made that evident. We killed Benji to show you the pain I felt when you killed my sister. You got to suffer with me."

"And now, our war is over," He continues, "Yet, you still kill. The truth is, you're a bloodthirsty animal, just like us, looking for a reason to kill someone you don't like. Like it or not, we are the same. And this bloodlust will be the end of you. Just like my mother. You inherit her legacy."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? See me turn into the same monster you sick fucks are. It won't happen. I kill to defend those I love, you go out of your way to kill people that aren't threats."

"That's… hilarious." He grins to me, "You think you're keeping your loved ones safe? You're a bigger threat than we ever were. You'll see soon enough."

"It's a shame you won't be seeing anything in a few seconds." I say to him as I line up my sights with his left eye, the same eye Beta took from me.

"I'll see you in Hell." He spits towards me.

"Send my regards to Mommy Dearest, asshole." I squeeze the trigger and his brains splatter on the foliage behind him. A piece of closure finally comes as the other person that betrayed me is finally gone, his comeuppance earned.

My time to revel in the destruction is cut short as I hear a sound I haven't heard much of lately, the dry gasping and groaning of walkers. I see several coming in the clean up and finish my work for me, so I make a break for the main road and let them have their fun. I did what I came here to do already, anyways. I can leave these assholes to rot now knowing I accomplished what I set out to do.

* * *

_A Couple Hours Later_

"Brett!" Clem waves me down as I walk back into the walls I've called home the last couple of months. The both of us smiling, I pull my friend in for a quick, friendly hug.

"I've barely seen you lately. How've you been holding up after… you know?" She asks me, looking me up and down.

"I'm holding up pretty well. Things don't feel right but I've at least been able to find some closure." I tell her, keeping the smile. I've learned to hide my true feelings and keep a smile when times were tough, but this is a genuine smile. I do have some sort of closure for Benji's death. Killing Logan helped.

"So, uh, what were you doing outside so early?" she asks me, "Were you scheduled to hunt today?"

"Not today, no. I just went for a walk outside the walls to clear my head. It was nice to walk around nature and reflect on everything that's happened lately."

"Is that blood fresh?" She asks, pointing to a bloodstain on my shirt. I look down at it, noticing a blood splatter across the chest, courtesy of the Russian whose throat I cut.

"No, I don't know what that is." I lie through my teeth once again.

Unconvinced, she gives me a look that tells me she can see right through me. "Brett, what happened while you were out there?"

I sigh, conceding to her. "Fine, it's a whisperer's blood. I was attacked by one on my walk and I did what I had to do. The blood's probably his." Technically, not a lie.

"Jesus Christ, Brett. Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine." I try and convince her. She gives me a weird look, pondering something as she keeps her eyes on my shirt.

"You weren't attacked by any Whisperers out there, were you? You went after them yourself." She deduces. "Am I right?"

Jesus fucking Christ, everyone is psychic here or something.

"No. I'm telling you the truth, Clem. The guy attacked me, so I fought him off." I tell her again. Again, technically not a lie.

"You're not telling me the truth. Not all of it." She snaps at me. "What happened out there?"

"Fuck. Fine. I went after them. I went after them and slaughtered them like animals. The guy I killed, he was only one of them." I snap back to her, "You happy with that?"

"Happy? Am I happy with that? Fuck no! I'm horrified. What the fuck are you thinking? Weren't you the one that told AJ that senseless violence is wrong? What about that?" She grills me, causing me to grit my teeth, resisting the urge to argue with her over this.

"I've been thinking a lot about that night. I keep thinking about what AJ said. And the more I think about it, the more I think he was right in the first place. Why should people who want to hurt us get to live? Why do we put ourselves on the line day in and day out just for them to pick us off like we're nothing? That's bullshit. If we're gonna rebuild civilization to what it was, then we shouldn't sit back and take it while groups like the Whisperers hurt us. Groups like them, they shouldn't get the luxury of being alive. Call it murder, whatever you want, but if it's what it takes to keep this place safe, then call me a murderer."

"The conflict with the Whisperers, it's over! This- This is just murder. You're not making us safe, if anything the opposite! You're literally a murderer!" She hisses, trying to avoid raising her voice and cause a scene.

"We're still at war, Clem. We always are and always will be, and I'm tired of pretending we're not. These sick fucks are still out there, and I'm doing what needs to be done. And I'll be honest with you, I like it. Ever since they killed Benji, I've been feeling lost and vulnerable. Most nights, I can't even sleep without thinking about him and everyone else we've lost because we tried to play nice with them. Ever since I took this into my own hands, I feel strong. For the first time in a while, I feel powerful. For the first time in a while, I'm not a victim. I'm done standing around while the people I love die. That's why I'm doing this. I hold the cards now, and I fucking love it."

"What the Hell happened to you? The Brett I know is strong, not a vicious killer."

"I've seen almost everyone I've ever loved get taken from me. I've felt helpless every time. From when my mom died to when Benji died, life has kicked me around and I've been hopeless. You know what I'm feeling, the only difference is I have the conviction to do something about it."

"The conviction to- You're going to get yourself killed!"

"This world has gone to Hell, Clem. We've been living in Hell since the dead started walking, and I'm done letting everything go to shit. We're stronger than this, someone needed to fight back."

"What about Maya and Chloe? Are you trying to put them in danger? Cause you're being really fucking reckless."

"Of course not. They're all I have left. I'm doing all this for them, Clem, so they, and everyone else at Richmond, can live a better life here. If Chloe can grow up and not have to always worry about getting attacked by groups like the Whisperers, even if it costs me my life, then I consider that a success. It's cost me a part of myself. It's nothing compared to what I'm saving."

Stunned, she stares back at me. She's at a loss for words. It's a shame, I really wish she could see my point of view. I was really hoping she would. Someone I've fought by in the past, maybe she gets what I'm saying to an extent, but she clearly doesn't agree with me.

"Dez told me before he died that he wanted to serve a higher purpose, something bigger than himself. For him, it was dying while helping the Delta. This is my higher purpose, killing those that want to harm us, to keep this place safe. If that kills me, then so be it. I'd rather die for a cause than die for nothing. That's just common sense."

"Stay away from me and AJ. I'm serious. You've lost your mind. You're dangerous, Brett."

She starts to storm off in anger, leaving me with a sinking feeling in my gut. What if she's right? What if I'm taking this too far? What if I'm in over my head?

No. I'm doing the right thing. Sometimes, you need to make the hard decisions for the best possible outcome. Violence is all the Whisperers know. That's the only way I can stop them. She'll just have to see it.

"Clem, wait!" I call out to her desperately, hoping she'll at least listen.

She stops for a moment, glancing back at me. Her glare pierces me like a knife, but all I need is a moment.

"Benji loved you." I tell her, "More than as a friend. He had feelings for you. Please understand that what I'm doing, I'm doing for him, for you, for Maya, for everyone here. Trust me, if there was another way I'd be all ears."

She doesn't say a word, glaring back at me for a few seconds, comprehending everything I just said. After a few more seconds, she turns back and walks back into the city. I simply shake my head and walk towards home. She doesn't see it. She just doesn't. She thinks I'm some bloodthirsty maniac who likes killing innocent people. There's two things wrong with that.

First, there's no such thing as innocent anymore. All the innocent people died years ago. Logan made that plenty clear before I killed him. We all have sins in life we need to wash our hands of. Some of us more than others, but no one's innocent anymore.

Second, I don't like killing people. I like killing the right people. When the right people are killed, everything else just falls into place. It makes the world just a little bit better. I'm not bloodthirsty. I just want a world my girlfriend and daughter can live in without being scared. It's something any decent human being would want.

She'll see it one day. One day.  
**Alright, this chapter was revised about a dozen times, and that last sequence with Brett and Clem went under about half a dozen changes in the last two days or so. Sorry this took almost a month to write, my MacBook crashed on me so I had to get that replaced which was just awesome. I've gotten a decent chunk out of the next chapter done but I won't put an ETA on that because I really don't know. Stay safe and hope y'all are well. Take care and see you all next time :)**


	15. Dead Man's Hand

**Chapter 15 - Dead Man's Hand**

_Nighttime, Days Later, Brett's POV_

Soft whimpering and whining coming from the corner of the room causes me to slowly stir back into consciousness. I slowly sit up, and the mix of me sitting up and Chloe's soft crying cause Maya to start to wake up, as well.

She groans as she slowly tries to sit up. "I'll get her." She mumbles, but I shake my head, even though she can't see it.

"No, I've got it. Go back to sleep, you need it." I remind her. She's been dealing with some nausea lately. I hope she's not getting sick or anything. I need her to be healthy to help with Chloe.

"Mmkay" I hear her mumble into her pillow as I roll out and pick up Chloe. She and I slowly walk out of our room, and into the living room, where I hold her on the couch. In the moonlight, I get a glimpse of her scared expression, still whimpering despite her being safe in my arms.

"I know you're scared, Chloe. Truth be told, I am, too. This world's a scary place, and it's a world I had to grow up in. We had to survive out here, and it was scary." I whisper to her, knowing she probably doesn't understand a word. I lightly bounce her in my arms, making sure she's comfortable.

"People grow strong, but the feeling of fear never really goes away, you just find a way to cope with it. But even then, there's no such thing as a world without fear. There will always be something to fear, that's just the truth of the matter. But that's why I fight. Because I want you to grow big and strong and be able to worry about as little as possible. It's what your mother and father died for, to get to live safely, and I'll be damned if I let that dream die with them. I'll die before I let anyone out there hurt you, and you have my word to the grave."

She suddenly stops whimpering, staying silent while looking back up at me. Maybe she understands more than I thought. I hope she at least understands she's safe here. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. I don't know. Maybe I won't ever know.

With her whimpering stopping, we walk back into the room, where Maya's snoring tells me she already fell back asleep. With the sunrise barely peeking over the horizon, I place Chloe back into her bed and curl up with Maya, trying to get a little extra sleep before the morning. We're going hunting with Louis today. It should be fun.

* * *

"Get your ass in gear, Louis! We're heading out soon!" Maya calls out as the two of us walk out of the room, handing Chloe off to her Aunt Kenzie. He stumbles out of his room, his signature trench coat on and a wide grin on his face.

"I'm ready!" He announces, brandishing Chairles like the smug bastard he is. I take a magazine of 9mm ammo, inserting it into my M9 and chambering a round as I put it back in my pocket.

"Seems like we're ready." I nod to Louis as Maya and I both turn towards the door. Louis gives a kiss to Kenzie as the three of us head on our way.

A warmer breeze hits us as we walk outside, marking spring getting that much closer. It gets a smile out of me, seeing the slow but sure transition from winter to spring. This winter was certainly one to forget, for the most part at least.

But that's what spring is all about, new beginnings. I can put this past winter behind me and move forward in building a better life for myself.

This time, I don't need to sneak out of Richmond. Not that I could, seeing as the hole in the wall I used has been sealed off. But, seeing as this is just a hunting trip, the three of us can just walk out the front gates, no sneaking around necessary. It's easier.

"Hey, Brett…" Louis says to me quietly, "Have you been feeling alright lately?"

I look at him weirdly with a raised eyebrow, "Fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. You've just seemed kinda off lately, that's all." He shrugs to me. I shrug back to him.

"No problems here. I'm fine." I reiterate. He nods, albeit with a bit of skepticism in his expression. A familiar sinking feeling comes to my stomach as a thought crosses my mind.

Did Clem tell him?

"Come on, slowpokes! Catch up! The damn lurkers will have eaten everything by the time we get there!" My girlfriend teases the both of us, urging us to catch up to her. Louis and I both jog to catch up to her, but my mind keeps on thinking about what just happened.

What do you know, Louis?

* * *

The rabbit's eye meets mine and shows a look of pure terror as the inevitability of what's about to happen settles in. As it tries to wiggle free in the snare, I quash any hope by grabbing its neck and snap it like a stick. It falls limp in my hand as I loosen the snare and drop its corpse in my bag along with the other rabbits who suffered a similar fate. I remember when the thought of this made me feel uneasy. That Brett is long-gone. That Brett had a different view on life and death. That Brett died a while ago. That Brett was weak who let his weakness get people killed. That's not me. Not anymore.

A rustling noise from my left causes me to drop my bag, drawing my handgun and cautiously walking towards the bushes where the rustling is coming from.

Aimed down my sights, I slowly step around the bushes, and I see them. A whisperer peering through the bushes and takes no notice of me as she watches Louis and Maya bag animal corpses. Without the whisperer noticing, I rush her, tackling her from behind and tumbling through the bushes into the clearing where Maya and Louis immediately take notice. Despite a strong struggle from her, I manage to pin her on the ground with my knees on he arms, and my hands around her throat.

I tear off the skin mask, revealing a dirt-caked face and bright orange hair.

Gamma.

"You… I thought you'd be dead by now." I mutter to her under my breath.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" She snarls back at me, causing me to tighten the grip on her throat more. She lets out a choking noise as my grip tightens even more.

"Brett, stop!" Louis calls out to me, "Let her go!"

Louis' words make me freeze up a moment, and I merely look up at him while my grip tightens.

"Are you okay, Mary?" He asks her gently as Louis helps both of us up.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." She dusts herself off, glaring at me. "You're friends with this asshole?" She points to me.

"You're friends with this bitch?" I ask Louis. And he nods back to me.

"Brett, this is Mary. She's an-"

"I know who she is. She's Gamma. She's a fucking whisperer. What the fuck Louis? She's part of the reason Benji died!" I pull out my M9, pointing it right at her forehead. My finger slowly itches towards the trigger.

"Brett! Put the gun down!" Louis yells, "Stop, man! Let's talk this through!"

"There's nothing to talk about, Louis. She's a Whisperer. She deserves to be six feet under just like the rest of her filth."

"Clem was right. You have lost your mind!" Louis gasps, horrified. "Brett, what the hell?"

"Brett, what's he talking about?" Maya pleads to me, "What did you do?"

"I did what I had to do." I tell her, "I made sure that they didn't hurt anyone ever again."

"What did you do?" She repeats herself.

"He blew up dozens of us with a bomb. There were innocent people there, ones that had nothing to do with your brother's death. And you murdered them." Gamma says to us, specifically me at the end. My teeth grit as my grip on the handgun gets a little tighter. I glance over at Maya, who looks back at me, horrified.

"No one's innocent anymore. We're all guilty of something. There's no good in this world, not anymore. You sick fucks are proof enough of that."

Louis steps in front of my gun, staring right down the barrel, hands raised. "Drop the gun. I'm serious, Brett. She's not a threat. She's a good person. Please, listen to me." He desperately tries to get to me.

I lower my gun, hands shaking and my mind breaking. I put it back in my pocket as thoughts of what happened mere weeks ago cross my mind, how she tortured me at the Whisperer camp, where my mind first started to break.

She's not a good person. None of them are. None of us are good people. There's no good left in this world.

Not even Louis.

My right hand curls into a fist as I deliver a right hook to Louis' jaw, dropping him to the ground. While he's stunned on the ground, I get on top of him, just like with Gamma just earlier, this time putting a vicegrip on his throat. Fueled by pure rage, I see red. The clamp I hold on his throat getting stronger by the second.

"You betrayed me! You betrayed all of Richmond! You piece of shit!" I yell as loud as I can, right in his face. "Fucking traitor! You're no better than any of those sick fucks I killed! Fuck! You!"

"Get off him!" Maya tries to drag me off him, but that only gets me angrier.

"Get off me!" I grab her wrists and shove her aside. With a yelp, she hits the ground a few feet away as I get back to Louis.

"I fucking trusted you! You were my brother, Louis! Why? Why?"

"There's… still… good…" he manages to choke out, fueling my rage even further.

"Not. Them!" I yell out. Another pair of hands grab me, and I can only react fast enough to swat them away, not to avoid the sharp pain in my neck as I feel skin and muscle tissue being torn away. A warm, wet feeling follows as the sensation runs down my upper chest and back.

I shove my assailant off me, his jaw tearing more skin off and causing more blood to spew out.

A gunshot cuts me off from doing anything further, and the walker that attacked me drops to the ground. I turn around to see Maya's smoking handgun. The entire woods goes silent.

As if the pain in my neck wasn't enough, I get one look at the pain in her eyes, and the fog in my head is slowly lifted. Reality sets in and a sinking feeling of dread overcomes me.

I'm bitten.

I feel at my neck. Sure enough, he got me good. A nice big bite mark on the left side of my neck, blood still spurting out bit by bit.

"Shit…" is all I can let out. The shock of it all leaves me speechless.

"Brett…" Maya whimpers as she comes towards me.

"Maya…" she and I pull each other in for a hug, the worst one yet.

She breaks down the moment she hits my arms, and my stomach drops. This is my fault. I did this to myself and I did this to her.

"It's gonna be okay. Trust me, everything will be alright." I assure her. It's not. I'm fucked. This is my neck. I can't cut that shit off. I'm done.

"Louis!" I call out to him, being helped to his feet by Gamma, "Louis, I'm sorry, man."

"Why, Brett? Why did you do that?" He asks me, still trying to get his voice back fully.

"I lost my mind. It cost me everything…" I murmur weakly, starting to feel the effects of the blood loss, "Fuck. This is bad. This is real bad."

I stumble myself over to a tree overlooking the main road, sitting down as I weakly look out at the landscape before me.

"Can you walk? Can you make it back to Richmond?" Maya desperately asks me. I simply shake my head.

"No. I'm done. I'll bleed out before we get halfway there."

"You can't! You've got people to say goodbye to!" She pleads to me, "Please, just try!"

"Maya, you and I both know this is where it ends for me. Give Chloe a big hug for me, alright?"

She shakes her head, trying to drag me to my feet. "No. You can give it to her yourself. Come on! Let's go."

"Please… don't make this harder on yourself." I tell her softly. "I need you to be strong, Maya. Be strong for me."

"Brett, please. I can't do this without you." Her misty eyes get mine to do the same as my heart breaks for her.

"Yes… you can. You will. You're the strongest girl I know… I know you'll… prove me right."

"Brett-"

"Maya… please. You and I both… know what's gonna happen." My vision starts to blur as I get one last good look at her. Maya Morin, the dark-haired beauty that gave me faith in this world, even if it was only for a little bit.

"Maya… I need you… to go home. Be Chloe's mother… Live the happily ever after we wanted… I'm sorry I won't be there for it…"

"You will." She softly whispers through the tears. She grabs my hand, and puts it up to her chest. Her heart pounds strongly through her shirt, and smiles come across both of our faces through the tears. "In here."

"I love you…" I whisper to her.

"I love you, too." She pulls me in for one final kiss. A bittersweet one, all things considered. Our lips part after a moment, my heart longs for one last moment with her, but I know that thirst won't be quenched no matter what.

"Now go. Go home... and take care of yourself and Chloe. Tell her about everyone that died to get her here… and make sure she doesn't take that… for granted… Dont worry about me… I'll handle the messy part…"

She somberly nods, holding my hands in hers one last time as she slowly backs away, turning her head away, and walks off, softly sobbing the whole way, just within earshot. Louis and Mary console her as the three walk off. And just like that, I'm by myself.

So, this is it. End of the line.

We don't get to choose how we go out. The circumstances we face in life decide that, not us. With that being said, I hold all the cards for myself right now. I'm deciding what to do, even if it's the only thing to do.

I set out to do this to get rid of the monsters in this world. To make the world a better place. By doing that, I turned myself into a monster. Isn't that ironic?

I tried to save everyone else, but at the cost of turning myself into the thing I wanted to destroy the most.

Maybe Louis was right. Maybe there is still good in this world. Maybe they weren't all bad people. Maybe I was in over my head.

Scratch that, I got in way over my head. What the fuck is wrong with me?

I deserve this. I'm a monster, and I wanted to kill all the monsters, to keep the woman I love and the child I swore to protect safe in a world where safety is a rare commodity.

I don't want to die, but I want a world where Maya and Chloe are safe more than I want to be alive.

And as long as I'm still alive, I can't guarantee that they're safe with me.

This is what I get for all the suffering I've caused. All the lives I've taken. All the evil I've done, thinking I was the good guy. In reality, I'm not the good guy. Far from it. Frankly, I'm about as far as I could be. What I didn't realize about this was that by destroying one monster, I started to create another that was far worse.

And that's why she won. Alpha's been dead for weeks, but she won. She never intended on surviving, rather she just wanted to create chaos. And it worked. She was right. I did fear losing my friends and family, so much so that I went out and slaughtered people under the joke of an idea that they'd be safer for it. They weren't. They never were.

So here I am, sitting on the side of a road, underneath an old oak tree. I've said my goodbyes. This is it. I can't tell if it's been 5 minutes or 5 hours since I've been bit. It feels like it's been an eternity.

I couldn't let Maya put me down. That'd be wrong. I needed her to do something else. I need her to get back home and take care of Chloe. I need the two of them to live long, happy lives. I'll take care of putting myself down. After all, I did all this to get rid of the monsters in this world. I may as well get rid of one last one while I can.

I pull out the handgun from my waistband, the gun that's been with me from the beginning. An M9 Beretta, some of the paint starting to chip off the barrel, getting the feel of the cold steel in my hands one last time. My ticket to salvation is here, in my hands. I can do one last good deed while I still can, and then it's all over.

With a fading smile on my face, I weakly look up at the sun, seemingly brighter than normal.

As I raise the gun to my head, I feel the muzzle nudge my temple. Vision blurring, eyes misting, and hands trembling, I only feel my smile widening.

"This is for you, Benji. See you soon, brother."

**It feels really weird killing off a protagonist like that. I've never done that before but I did have that planned from the very beginning of planning this third and final story of my series. **

**Well, that's almost it. One more chapter after this and then an epilogue to wrap things up for good. This has been absolutely exhausting to write, to say the least, but I enjoyed it a lot. I was never much of a writer really ever, but I figured I'd give it a shot and I went down the rabbit hole. Developing some of these characters has been one of the most interesting things I've tried to do and I hope you enjoyed them to at least a certain degree. I know a lot of you were pulling for Brett and Maya, but I did say at the start that people will die and there would be a bittersweet ending. Well, that was the bitter The sweet part will be next chapter. see you guys then :]**


	16. And Yet, We Survive

**Chapter 16 - And Yet, We Survive**

_Ian's POV_

I look out at the opening gates, the three figures walking back into Richmond of Louis, Maya, and… a whisperer? No Brett?

I walk over to the three, and something's wrong. Maya's in tears, Louis looks shaken up, and there's a whisperer where Brett should be.

A sinking feeling comes to my stomach as I ask the question I already know the answer to. "Where's Brett?"

Sure enough, Maya immediately breaks down, collapsing to the ground as she starts bawling at my feet. My heart breaks for her as I look over at Louis. "What happened?"

"He… he got bit out there. R-Right on the neck. There was nothing we could do."

"Oh my god…" I mumble to myself, "Maya, I'm so sorry. Shit, I can't believe it."

I help her to her feet, pulling her in for a hug as she gets up. She continues to cry into my collar, not saying a word. She doesn't need to. I know what's been going through her head however long it's been.

She slowly pulls away, trying to stop the tears, although they'll inevitably keep coming. I don't need to elaborate, do I?

"What about her?" I point towards the whisperer, who looks on cautiously. I turn to Louis, nervously looking back at her, but turns back with a determined look in his eyes.

"She left the Whisperers. She just wants things to be normal again and wants to be one of us. You can trust her, Ian. I swear."

"There's a lot of people that'd like to see her head on a pike, Louis." I remind him, "That's hard to ignore."

"I know. It won't be easy, but you have to understand she's not a bad person. She's someone trying to survive like the rest of us." He reasons with me.

I glance at her, and she does the same back at me. I can only wonder what's going through her mind right now. Maybe she truly is done. Maybe she's wondering how to kill me. We need to be careful here. I won't make the same mistake again.

At the same time, though, she seems like she wants forgiveness. She wants to move forward. Maybe she even could be a productive member here, just trying to live a normal life like the rest of us.

"Bobby!" I call over to one of Javi's men standing guard by the front gates. The big, cumbersome man lightly jogs over to me.

"Sir?" He asks.

"Bring her to quarantine. We're gonna see what to do with her. Keep an eye on her in the meantime."

"Yes, sir." He responds as he leads her towards the quarantine area. She doesn't resist or put up any sort of a fight. She simply follows. She's off to a good start.

"I'm gonna sleep on this." I tell Louis. "I'm really not sure about this, but if she's really trying to contribute here, then she might just be worth it. There's a lot of risk here, Louis. But I've got bigger things to handle right now. I'll have Eleanor check up on her in a bit and tomorrow morning we'll talk to her, after Brett's funeral."

"Alright." He somberly nods, "Thank you for doing this. I know some people aren't gonna like it, but it's the right thing."

"I hope you're right. I really do." I tell him, "But don't worry about her right now. You should go home, take care of Maya. She's hurting and needs you. Be there for her."

"Got it. Will do." He gives me a determined nod before heading off. I sigh, looking down the road towards my own home. I've got a fun conversation to have with Kate now. Clem and AJ too, probably.

* * *

I take a deep breath before turning the door to my house, opening up to the sight of Clem and AJ playing with Chandler on the floor while Kate watched while holding Marissa. All eyes turn to me, and I let out a sigh as I force myself to deliver the bad news.

"Brett's dead." I announce to my family. A stunned silence follows as everyone takes a second to process what I just said.

Clem, the first to speak up, lets out a stunned gasp before saying anything. "What happened?"

"He's… dead?" AJ asks, a small stream of tears forming in his eyes, "Why? Why Brett?"

"He was bitten while out on the hunting trip today with Maya and Louis. He didn't make it very far before he had to… you know."

"Oh my God…" Kate murmurs, "How's Maya?"

"About as well as you can expect." I tell her, "I feel awful for her."

"I can't believe it…" Clem murmurs, trying time console AJ, who is now crying into her shirt. "Brett's gone… Shit…"

"Poor kid. He was so young." I say, "He went through so much in his life, lost so much. I don't know how he held it together. Especially the last few weeks, I'd have lost my mind."

Everyone remains silent, with Clem uneasily shifting herself around a bit.

"Clem, I think you should tell your friends. They should know what happened and I don't think Louis or Maya is up for the task. Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah, I'll do it." She nods back to me, and I give her a gracious smile. "Come on AJ, we've got a few fun conversations to have."

I give the both of them a reassuring hug as they head out, leaving me with my wife and kids, an uneasy silence among the four of us.

I sit down next to my wife and daughter, my son sits on my lap, too. We don't say a word to one another. I simply put one arm around Kate and Marissa, my other around Chandler, and I pull the three of them in with another reassuring hug. I plant a kiss on my wife's cheek as the four of us just stay on the couch, embracing each other's company and comforting one another, even if Kate and I are the only ones that know what's going on. She's got to be nervous right now, be it about us, the kids, the city, everything. I don't blame her, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the same way a bit.

All I know is, no matter what happens here, we're going to be alright. I'll make sure of that.

* * *

_The Next Morning_

The last people paying their respects at Brett's grave somberly walk away from the funeral. There was a beautiful service, marking his grave at the far end of town next to his brother's. His friends spoke about him to the crowd that gathered, reminiscing about the past and good times. Clem talked about how he was courageous and selfless when defending the school from the attacks. Louis talked about how he was like a brother to him and how they were best friends almost immediately. Maya tried her hardest to talk about their relationship, but couldn't get through it without breaking down. I helped her to her feet and tried my best to comfort her.

As everyone finished saying their last goodbyes, all that were left were myself, Maya, Chloe, Kenzie, and Louis. Louis holds his niece while Kenzie consoles her crying sister kneeling at Brett's grave.

I walk over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder in support.

"Maya, I know how badly this feels. All too well. I know it feels hopeless right now, but I promise you we will take care of you here. Whatever you need, anything at all, you've got it." I assure her, "You have my word."

She doesn't respond, continuing to cry over Brett's grave. I turn to her sister, who gives me a solemn look. She turns back to Maya.

"You should tell him." I hear her whisper in her ear. "He can help."

"I can help with what?" I ask, "Name it, and you've got me and whoever else you need."

"I… I'm…" she murmurs through the tears. I almost want to tell her that she doesn't need to tell me right now if she doesn't want to, but she beats me to the punch, managing to hold back the tears long enough to tell me.

"I'm pregnant."

All the air in my lungs gets forced out like a punch to the gut.

"Jesus Christ Maya…" I gasp out. She looks up towards me with teary eyes.

"I found out this morning. Eleanor had me take a test and, sure enough… Brett and I got drunk one night and we... you know. And now… he's…"

"Maya," I look her in the eyes, "If you're not feeling comfortable with this, Kate and I can take care of Chloe or the baby. It's a lot of stress and I totally understand if-"

"I can do it." She adamantly tells me, "I can do it. I owe it to Brett."

Surprised at this, I give her a smile nonetheless. "Of course. My offer still stands, though. If you need any help, you'll reach out, yeah?"

"Sure thing." She smiles for once as she hugs me. I gladly hug the grieving girl back.

As the hug breaks away, Louis glances over at me. "What about Gamma?"

"I slept on it. I'm not on board with it, but I'll give her a chance to try and sway me. If she's for real, then I'll talk with Javi and Eleanor."

"And if she doesn't?"

I simply shrug back to him, "Depends on how I feel. Might kill her. Might just throw her out. I guess we'll find out."

Unsatisfied, he frowns to me. He shakes his head and goes back to comforting Maya and Kenzie.

I reach for my radio, "Javi, you there?"

"_I'm here. What's up, Ian?_"

"Meet me at the quarantine. We're gonna ask our guest some questions."

"_Copy all. I'll be there soon._"

* * *

"Ok, this is it." I tell the three of them as we approach the bulding. "Javi and I'll ask questions. Clem and Gabe, if she tries anything, shoot her on my order. I don't think she will, but just in case, be ready."

"I don't get why we're giving her a chance." Gabe grumbles as he loads his shotgun, "Her people killed like a dozen of ours. We should kill her and be over it."

"Believe me, I want to." I tell him, "It'd be a whole lot easier. But if we start killing everyone we don't like, then we're no better than they are. We'll give her a chance, and we decide what to do after."

He rolls his eyes, but follows us nonetheless.

* * *

I haven't been down here in a minute. It brought back some memories that I'm not too fond of. The New Frontier… those were some dark days.

But there she is, tied to the chair in the middle of the room. Her old skin mask lying at her feet, she looks up at me with bright blue eyes. She doesn't struggle, just sits there.

"So, you're done with the Whisperers?"

"I'm done." She confirms back to me, "The Whisperers are done. It's an ideology that died with Alpha. I want things to be normal again. This place seems like the right place for that."

"And how do we know this isn't an elaborate trick?" Javi chimes in, "You're not gonna fool us again."

"Everyone that was a part of that scheme is dead." She tells us, "The kid killed most of us before he died. Everyone that's left is just trying to survive out here."

"What are you talking about?" I ask her, "The kid? Brett?" I look at her, confused.

She nods. "That's him. You didn't know?"

"He doesn't know." Clem adds from behind me as I turn to her. "I never told you what Brett did."

I don't say anything back at her. I just look at her, stunned and confused.

"He attacked us. He set off an explosive at our camp and killed dozens of us like it was nothing, left the rest of us to get killed by the lurkers. He took no prisoners." Gamma quietly says.

"Just like how you guys didn't take prisoners with us."

"Just like how he could've taken Alpha's daughter prisoner. Instead, he killed her." She fires back at me.

"Fuck me…" I murmur as this revelation hits me like a bus, "So that's why-"

"It wasn't my idea to do it." She admits, "I wanted nothing to do with it. Alpha's son was feeling ambitious and wanted to get revenge. Logan wanted to avenge his sister and as his friend, Cain wanted to help. They did the attack themselves to impress Alpha, trying to become the new Beta because Brett killed her daughter, his sister."

I remain silent, putting the pieces of Gamma's story together.

"They didn't want Brett dead. Not right away, at least, They wanted him to suffer for a while. They wanted him to drown in his pain before he died."

"Instead, it fueled him further to want to kill her."

"Well, that is true. But she accomplished what she wanted." She notes, once again confusing me. "She could have wiped out this whole city if she wanted to. But she didn't. She wanted to cause chaos and unrest. And she did that, didn't she?"

The room goes silent as we all take in what she says.

"Brett was a strong kid. He had his heart in the right place, but he was too noble for his own good." She continues, "He tried to do too much for his people, and Alpha took advantage of that and tried to use him to create chaos here. Then, when you were vulnerable, we'd attack. She never lived long enough to see her plan succeed, but she managed to break him."

"So, what's next then?" I ask her, and she simply shakes her head.

"There is no next. The Whisperers are no more. Like I said, the group died with Alpha. Most of us are dead or went our separate ways. I have nothing left. Louis told me to come back here. What's next for me really depends on what you think."

I look back at Javi and the others, unsure of what to do. She seems genuinely done with the Whisperers. She also doesn't seem like she's any trouble.

Still, though. The Whisperers are dangerous. Like Javi noted, this could be an elaborate scheme. But, I trust Louis. He's a sharp kid and I think he would be able to tell if someone tried to manipulate him like that.

"I'll talk it over with the council." I tell her, "You seem like you genuinely want to help contribute to this place. You also seem like you're genuinely remorseful for what your group did. That's helping your case. What's not helping your case are the dead people that your group is responsible for. Maybe you really had nothing to do with most of that. Maybe Louis is right and you're not a bad person. But I've got a wife and two kids, and I'll be damned if I put them at a risk like this without weighing the options. You get that, right?"

"Absolutely." She nods confidently. "How old?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Your kids, how old are they?"

I hesitantly look at Javi before turning back to her. "I've got a boy who's 3 and a girl who's a month old."

"That's nice. It seems like this is a good place for them to grow up." She genuinely smiles, getting me to smile a bit, too.

I turn back to the door to go and discuss this with Javi and Eleanor, but I turn back towards her as a thought crosses my mind.

"What's your name?" I ask her.

Confused, she looks back at me for a moment. "My name?"

"Yeah, your name. Not Gamma, your real name. From before. It'll help your chances if we know who you actually are."

She hesitates a bit, as though she doesn't remember before looking me back in the eyes. "Mary. My name's Mary."

"Alright then, Mary. Javi and I will be back in a bit when the Council makes its decision." I turn to my second in command before the two of us leave, "Keep an eye on her, Clem. We'll be quick."

She nods in confirmation as Javi and I leave the cell and head towards the meeting place.

"Eleanor, you busy?" I radio in to her.

"_Not really. Did you meet with her?_"

"We did."

"_What's the verdict?_"

"I want to figure it out. Can you make it to the meeting place?"

"_Sure can. Meet you there in a few._"

* * *

"So, what do you think?" She asks me as the three of us settle in. "Are you letting her in?"

I shrug back to her, taking a sip from my flask. "I don't know. I'm torn on it. She seems like she genuinely wants to help, but she was with them for so long… I just don't know."

"I don't think we should." Javi remarks, "I don't trust her. She's dangerous."

"Maybe you're right." I agree with Javi, a bit begrudgingly so. "But if she's done with the Whisperers, if the Whisperers themselves are done, then maybe she'll be useful here. She seems remorseful, at least."

"A lot of good people died because of her." Eleanor mentions, "That's hard to ignore."

"It is." I agree with her, "I'm not saying she's innocent. None of us are. We've all killed. We've all stolen. We've all done terrible things. We all redeemed ourselves in the future. If we could, then so can she, right?"

"I don't think it's the same." Eleanor responds, "I mean, this was a group bent on wiping out entire communities in the most ruthless ways possible."

"It sounds a lot like Joan's regime. And we forgave some of the people involved with that, right?" I remind Eleanor, adding more emphasis to the end.

"That's-" She fires back, annoyed, before going silent for a few moments, "Fine, that's a good point. But I still don't know how I feel about this. I think we're taking on a big risk with no real reward."

"I took on leading Richmond with the goal of making this place a beacon of hope for humanity. A place to show that even the undead can't break us, and we'll come back better and stronger for it. If we can't forgive and move forward, then we can't be that. I think we should give her a chance, even if it's on a short leash at first, like with Max."

Javi shakes his head, "This has 'Security Threat' written all over it."

"Alpha's dead. We haven't seen any sign of them for weeks. I think it's done. If it's not. We burn it to the ground. No prisoners, no forgiveness. But we can't keep living paranoid like this. It'll eat us alive."

Eleanor sighs, "You're the boss. If you want to give her a chance, then that's your call to make. But if this goes wrong, you need to own up to it."

"I will." I assure her, "If anything happens, it's on me and me only."

"Fine then. Javi?"

My brother-in-law uneasily looks at the ground, back at Eleanor and I, and then up at the ceiling. "Fuck, I really don't like this. But, I trust you, Ian. So, if you really think this can work out, then we can give it a shot. I want her on a short leash, though. As short as it gets. If she starts pulling anything, I want her gone."

"Deal." I tell him, and a small smile forms on his otherwise unconvinced expression.

* * *

I open the door to see Mary in the position we left her in, still tied up, sitting cooperatively. Clem sits on the floor across from her, keeping watch. All eyes turn to me as I walk in.

"I talked with the council. We decided to give you a chance here." She lets out a relieved sigh as I motion for Clem to cut her loose.

"Thank you… so much." She smiles to me as she stands up. I put my hand up to stop her.

"They weren't very convinced, but I made a strong case for you and they're on board. Sorta." I tell her, "You're on a short leash. If you start playing games, messing with us, you're gone. There's a lot of people who you hurt by being a part of the Whisperers. You can try and earn their trust back, but I won't promise that anyone will be as forgiving as we are."

"I understand." She nods, "You have my word, I just want to live a normal life."

"Right then, let's go." I motion for her to follow. She graciously follows me out of the building towards her apartment.

* * *

_Sunset_

Well, Mary is all set up in her apartment. She seems like someone decent to have around. Maybe she'll be someone good to have around in the future, but I think I'll wait a little while before I introduce her to my wife and kids.

I take an inhale of the cigarette and breathe out the smoke, admiring the sunset from my rooftop. It's a nice night. There's a cool breeze coming from the East which makes the warmer weather feel a bit nicer. It's starting to really feel like Spring here, one of the nicest times of year, if I do say so myself.

Clem sits next to me, admiring the sunset while she sips a cup of wine. The two of us, the last two surviving members of that group in the pharmacy. Who would've thought? Nearly a decade later, she's someone more than capable of handling herself. Not many little girls can say the same, I imagine. But, I like to think that's what makes Clem so special.

"Clem, I want you to be my second-in-command." I tell her before taking another drag of my cigarette.

She puts down her wine glass and looks up at me with shock. "What?"

"You heard me." I smile back at her, "You're strong, you're smart, you're capable. I trust you more than anyone else here."

"Come on, Ian. Be real. I'm a seventeen year old girl. I can't be your second in command. No one will take me seriously."

"Wrong," I correct her, "You're Clementine, the strongest, most badass seventeen year old this side of the Mississippi. I also know you can kick the living shit out of anybody here, so if someone doesn't take you seriously or acts out of line, I'd give you full permission to kick the living shit out of them."

She and I both share a good chuckle over that one.

"Alright, if you insist I should do it, then I'll do it." She grins, and we make it official over a handshake.

"Oh, there is one condition, though." I add after the fact. She looks at me, intrigued. "No keeping secrets from me. We can't be having people like Brett blowing folks up and me not knowing about it."

"I was worried about him. I figured if I told you, he might attack me or AJ over it. He lost his fucking mind."

I softly smile back at Clem, "I understand. Just don't let it happen again, alright?"

"You got it." My new second-in-command grins as I pull her in for a hug.

The two of us get back to admiring the sun slowly setting over the horizon.

We're gonna be alright.

**Well, that's it. The final chapter of substance for TEOME. I had a lot of fun writing this and, while my writing schedule wasn't as great as it could've been, I think it wasn't as bad as it could've been, either.**

**So, what's next? After the epilogue for this, I've really got no idea. I have no plans to do anymore stories based in this TWD universe I've created, at least not directly. I've been keeping up with a few of those choice stories on here and Reddit which might be a fun project, but absolutely exhausting at the same time. I honestly might just throw things at a dart board and see what sticks. What I do know is that if I do one ****of those stories, it'll be independent of this previous trilogy of stories, or in the same universe but otherwise unrelated at most. **

**Anyways, I have the epilogue all but finished already, so a little more polishing and I'll have it out in a couple days. Hope you guys enjoyed this, and I'll maybe see you guys with another project in the future. We'll see.**


	17. A Happily Ever After, After All

**Epilogue - A Happily Ever After, After All**

**15 Years Later**

If you told me I'd make it 23 years into the nightmare known as this world after the dead started rising, I'd have told you that you're crazy. Why me? Why do I get to live a good life when billions of others died? Well, I can't answer that. All I know is life is pretty damn good.

If you told me I'd have a big family, despite the world ending, a son with a ton of energy and a fun personality, a pair of daughters who make my day brighter by just seeing them, and of course, a beautiful wife by my side through the thick and the thin, I'd be really happy. Like I said, life is pretty damn good.

If you told me I was spearheading the effort to rebuild civilization as we knew it, I'd think that was pretty cool, too. Do I need to say it again?

Richmond's a thriving community. Simply put, it is as close to a world without walkers as it could be. Working electricity, a steadily supply of food and livestock, and enough resources in the area keep us sustainable. People are happy, well-fed, and comfortable. We've come a long way from where we were a decade ago.

I throw out my fishing line once again into the lake, the old dock softly creaking under the shifting weight of my body. This is nice. It's nice to just relax and fish, enjoy the warm summer evening on the water. A nice breeze blows towards me, keeping it nice and mild.

I'm 45 years old. I really don't know where the time went. It still feels like I'm a 21 year old kid surviving out with whatever resources I could scrounge up. Kate, a year older, is 46, and isn't any less beautiful or amazing as the day I met her. Our kids are growing up every day, and it's absolutely amazing to see. But, I'll talk about them a little later.

Javier continues to be my head of security. He and his wife Madison have a boy named Manuel and a girl named Sophia. My niece and nephew are just as wonderful as their parents, and they get along great with their cousins. Javi was never able to get a full-on Little League going, but a small baseball field on the far end of town was more than enough for the kids in town to play some pickup when they're bored. Javi was more than happy to help with that.

Like Javier, Eleanor is still in charge of the hospitals. She and Devin have been together for about 20 years and have their twin daughters, Amelia and Theresa. The two of them both help their parents in the hospital, albeit still learning some things at this point. We don't exactly have Med School yet. The hospital is full of staff, including Eleanor, Devin, Lingard, Ruby, and Erika, among plenty of others.

Clementine and Gabe got married about 8 years ago. Gabe's his uncle's second-in-command and Clem's been mine since…that day. Aside from being AJ's adoptive mother, she has two boys, Lee and David, and a girl named Violet. I was particularly fond of her naming her firstborn Lee, for reasons I feel are rather obvious. Gabe insisted he honors his father with their other son. I see what he means, but you can also probably guess why I wasn't thrilled about the idea. Clem was thrilled to have a daughter, and when I learned she named her Violet, I couldn't have been less surprised.

I can't forget about her other son. AJ's grown from the young infant I saw the day he was born into a man. Fearless, strong, and kind-hearted, AJ is the epitome of someone that grew up while the dead rose. I can't be more proud of who he became. I know his real parents would be, too.

Ruby and her husband, Aasim, haven't been married too long, actually. I don't know why, they just never thought to get married, but that didn't stop them from starting a family. Their daughter, Nissrine, is my daughter's best friend. The two of them are like sisters with how much time they spend together.

Louis and Kenzie, married for about 14 years, have two daughters. Their daughter Brooke is an absolute angel, musically talented like her parents, and one of the brightest kids I've ever met. Their other daughter, Ellie, is rather shy but still a good kid. The couple live in the Delta, where they have a house right on the river. We were able to surprise Louis for his birthday with a "new" piano we found at an old school's music room. With a lot of hard work and a little ingenuity, we hauled it to the Delta and moved it into their house. I never thought I'd see a man cry like that ever, and yet that's exactly what he did.

Speaking of that family, Maya has been nothing short of a trooper. After the whole Brett ordeal, she raised those kids by herself, all three of them. While also leading the Delta, her main focus has been raising those kids, and she did a damn good job with it. I know Lilly and Blake would be proud of how she raised Chloe, now almost 18 years old. Cool, confident, and sharp, just like her mother. Her two boys, Brett Jr. and Benjamin, are both 16, and like their big sister, would have made their father proud. I still think about Brett sometimes. The kid had his heart in the right place, he just let the anger from losing someone get to him. I know how it feels. It's not a good feeling. Not at all. I get why he went off the deep end, I'd be a hypocrite if I entirely blamed him.

Mary proved to be a worthwhile asset to the community, after all. She truly wanted to atone for her sins and has made up for the crimes she committed tenfold. It turns out that even some of the worst people around can still have good in them. She and her husband, Cassius, a man from The Delta, have a son together named Adam and have been very helpful around the community, working border security and hunting animals for the community. I knew I made the right call giving her a chance.

I feel my line tug as I carefully reel it in, a fish splashes about for dear life on the other end, but to little avail. I grin to my daughter as I finally reel it in, placing the fish in the bucket with the others. She casts her own line again as I take in the sight of it all.

The Sullivan family capped off at the five of us. Chandler, 19, spends his days hunting under the guidance of Annalyse. Every now and then, he brings home a deer for the butchers to work with and smaller game like rabbits and squirrels. He's lived almost twenty years of the apocalypse, and it's not fair. I was playing college football when I was his age, and he's killing the undead. I wish I could have given him a proper childhood and life. I wish things could've been different, but I couldn't be more proud of the way things turned out for him.

Marissa, now 16, has shaken the shy girl image that plagued her as a child. She works in the nursery with her mother, learning how to care for children herself. I know that one day, she's gonna be an awesome mother. The best ever, maybe. In her free time, I find her in her room, seemingly studying from different books every night. It's impressive, I think she studies more now than I did in college. It pays off, though. She's a bright kid with a bright future. To call her something special would be an understatement.

Although, she's not the one fishing next to me. My younger daughter, Lilly Mia Sullivan, 9 years old, smiles widely as she reels in another catch, presenting it to me proudly as I help remove it from the hook and put it in the bucket.

She and I sit down on the dock, looking out at the pinks and oranges of the horizon, that soft breeze waving her brown hair back ever so slightly. It's serenity you wouldn't think you'd find nowadays. Peace and quiet, it's almost foreign to me at this point. After years and years of killing walkers, it just doesn't feel right. And yet, it's all I really needed.

From behind us, a raspy groan makes its way towards us, and Lilly and I both turn to see it, a badly decomposed walker, barely stumbling towards us. Both its arms seemingly rotted away, it poses barely any threat. Frankly, I'm surprised it can even walk. It looks ready to fall apart any minute now.

"Can I get it?" My daughter asks me. Chuckling, I shake my head.

"No, I've got it. You're too young."

"No I'm not." She pouts quietly. "Can we do it together?"

I look back at the walker for a moment. We barely see them anymore, maybe one or two a month. Still, though, one bite can kill you just as easily as when this first started. At the same time, could it realistically bite her if it can't grab her with his arms? This one would be pretty easy to take out. Would it be the worst thing for her to get her first one today?

Kate'll probably kill me for this.

"Let me do the hard work, and you can finish him off, alright?" She nods, pulling out her knife. I approach the walker, and with a simple shove, he tips over and lands on the wood hard. He flails around, but without his arms, he can't get up. I step on his jaw with my boot, pinning him down for good as I motion for my daughter to finish him off. She quickly steps over, and enthusiastically jams her knife into the skull. It lets out one final sigh before it's gone for good, and I look up at her.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think it's dead."

"I think you're right."

She giggles as she skips back to the end of the dock, sitting down and dangling her feet above the water. I do the same as she cuddles next to me. The both of us peer out at the skyline, more vibrant colors come to make a beautiful sunset.

"Was it always like this? Before the walkers came?" Lilly asks, not breaking her gaze at the horizon.

"Sometimes." I tell her, "Your grandpa and I used to go fishing at this lake by my old house. Your Uncle Mick would tag along, too. The three of us would try to catch the biggest fish each time we went out there."

"Did you ever win?" She asks as she looks up at me.

I return the glance back at her with a smile. "Every time" I tell her with a wink. She giggles once again before abruptly stopping.

"I wish I got to meet Grandma and Grandpa. And Uncle Mick and Aunt Mia." She frowns, kicking her feet above the water.

"Me, too, sweetheart. You would've loved them, and they would've loved you. I miss all of them a lot."

"What were Uncle Mick and Aunt Mia like?"

"They were the most fun people I've ever met. I did everything with them, especially sports. Your Aunt Mia was a special person. She made anyone's day a bit brighter just by being in it."

"She sounds awesome!" She exclaims with a big smile. All I can do is nod.

"She was awesome. One of my best friends ever. I wouldn't honor just anyone by using their name for your middle name. She was a special person."

She responds with a big yawn. I can't help but chuckle a bit. She tuckered herself out.

"Sounds like someone's ready for bed."

She shakes her head, although I can see her sneak another yawn from the corner of my eye.

"Alright, sleepyhead. Don't fall asleep on me yet. We still have to get back home."

The two of us stand up, grabbing the fishing equipment and bucket as we start to make the walk back home. I gently hold her hand with my free one as we set off on the path to Richmond.

"Will you tell me more about what life was like back then? I want to know!" She enthusiastically asks me. I have a quick chuckle over her enthusiasm, but I'm more than willing to tell my daughter the story of how things went down.

"Sure thing. Let's start a few months before it all started. It was April of 2010…"

**Well, that's a wrap. 3 Stories, Over 70 Chapters, and a project spanning almost three years later, it's done. It's been a lot of fun doing this and I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for all the support on this. Maybe you'll see me on here again, and if so, I'll see you then.**


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